The research aims to explain the understanding of the heterogeneity of Peruvian municipalities from a financial perspective and how these are linked to the priority that their local governments give to the orientation of spending. A weighted sample of 329 municipalities has been taken from a total of 1851. The research was of the basic type, descriptive level and descriptive-explanatory design. The municipalities were grouped into six types and the ANOVA was applied to assess heterogeneity and the coefficient of variability and correlation to measure the orientation of expenditures. It was concluded that, in effect, from the perspective of total expenditures the municipalities are heterogeneous, not so in per capita terms. The research concludes that although local governments prioritize municipal expenses in functions that are more in accordance with the type of their municipality (40.1%), the greatest burden is the functions that are common to all of them: Institutional management (28.7%) and transportation (18%).