La deuda pequeña no me preocupa tanto como el ruido constante en la ciudad.

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Breakdown of La deuda pequeña no me preocupa tanto como el ruido constante en la ciudad.

• en: in
• me: me
• la ciudad: the city

Questions & Answers about La deuda pequeña no me preocupa tanto como el ruido constante en la ciudad.

Why is it me preocupa and not preocupa me or just preocupa?

In Spanish, preocupar works like gustar:

• La deuda pequeña no me preocupa.
  Literally: The small debt does not worry me.

Grammar structure:

• La deuda pequeña = grammatical subject (the thing causing worry)
• me = indirect object pronoun (the person affected)
• preocupa = 3rd person singular verb form

So the normal order is:

(no) + indirect object pronoun + verb + subject
No me preocupa la deuda.

You can also put the subject first, as in your sentence:

La deuda pequeña no me preocupa.

But you cannot say preocupa me in standard Spanish; the clitic pronoun me must go before the conjugated verb (except in some special constructions like infinitives or gerunds: preocuparme, preocupándome).

Why do we need no before me preocupa? Is this a double negative?

It’s just a normal negation, not a double negative.

In Spanish, no always goes directly before the conjugated verb.
With pronouns, the order is:

no + pronoun(s) + verb

So:

• Me preocupa la deuda. = The debt worries me.
• No me preocupa la deuda. = The debt doesn’t worry me.

You can’t say me no preocupa or omit no if you want to say does not.

How exactly does tanto como work here? What is being compared?