Analysis: How much did the Iraq War cost San Carlos?

On Aug. 31, 2010, President Obama declared the end of combat operations in Iraq, just more than seven years and five months after President Bush declared its beginning.

The costs and casualties of both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have been many; thousands of human lives lost, tens of thousands injured, and more than one trillion dollars spent. To date, the financial toll endured by small town America has been given less coverage by the national media.

Using the most recent U.S. Census data, Department of Defense financial records, and data collected by the National Priorities Project (NPP), San Carlos Patch found that after more than seven years of war, the city of San Carlos alone spent $156,613 on both the Iraq War and the war in Afghanistan.

For the Iraq War alone, the cost was found to be $108,624. For the war in Afghanistan, the number was $47,988. Those numbers will go up in 2011 as more money has already been requested. Broken down even further, the cost of war for San Carlos's 28,000 residents was $5 per person.

Chris Hellman of the NPP, a 27-year-old organization based in Northampton, MA. that analyzes federal data, oversees a website called costofwar.com.  The site  breaks down how much of the taxes for many cities and counties across America have been spent on our collective wars. San Carlos residents looking for information wouldn't find San Carlos on the list due to its size, so San Carlos Patch did some extrapolations.

Hellman said many smaller cities like San Carlos were left out due to the size. "We get as close as we can, but some cities are just too small," he said in a recent interview.