01Calendar year 2026
City of Chicago
Streets, public services, and the everyday work of a city.
$16.84billion · net
11 positive budget categoriesFollow the money
Chicago, Illinois / 2026 budgets
A city in motion.
A budget you can see.
Explore the public money behind Chicago’s streets, schools, and parks.
See the big picture01 The big picture
Budget in motion
City of Chicago
Explore a category to highlight its dots.
Dots show budget shares, not spending over time.
How the dots work
240 equal-value dots per budget, rounded to whole dots. Small categories may have no dots. Percentages use exact amounts, not dot counts. Each budget has its own dollar value per dot.
Method and limits ↗Inside this budgetShare
- Streets, water, trash and airports$4,609,570,640.0027.2%
- Keeping people safe$3,266,555,360.0019.3%
- Retirement (pensions)$2,843,221,414.0016.8%
- Paying back loans$1,846,978,405.0010.9%
- Health, families and libraries$1,101,178,733.006.5%
- Other citywide costs$1,008,734,181.005.9%
- Running the city government$852,200,340.005.0%
Shares of $16,959,541,505.00 in positive categories, not the $16,842,553,003.00 net budget.
-$116,988,502.00 adjustment is not drawn as dots.
- Schools$5,275,481,723.3251.5%
- Citywide programs$1,811,758,301.3717.7%
- Teacher pensions and insurance$1,102,703,360.4710.8%
- Paying back loans$1,063,342,455.2610.4%
- Building projects$555,945,321.005.4%
- Central and network offices$444,096,302.264.3%
Shares of $10,253,327,463.68 in positive budget categories.
- Parks and recreation$146,505,400.0023.0%
- Maintaining the parks$122,680,109.0019.2%
- Soldier Field, harbors, golf and other managed venues$79,556,554.0012.5%
- Paying back loans$70,556,546.0011.1%
- Retirement (pensions)$69,332,412.0010.9%
- Running the District$57,424,109.009.0%
- Utilities, benefits and other shared costs$43,752,792.006.9%
Shares of $637,580,350.00 in positive budget categories.
02 Your way inReading the numbers
One city.
Three different budgets.
Separate governments, overlapping responsibilities.
These totals should not be added together.
02FY2026 · July 2025–June 2026
Chicago Public Schools
Classrooms, school buildings, and the people who make them work.
$10.25billion
6 positive budget categoriesFollow the money
03Park District FY2026
Chicago Park District
Neighborhood parks, lakefront spaces, and room to play.
$637.6million
10 positive budget categoriesFollow the money
Find your connection
What matters to you?
A school. A park. A public service. Start there.
03 Follow the moneyPublic sources
Explore the budgets
Follow a dollar, one level at a time.
Or browse the full City, schools, and Park District pages.
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