The 2026 Budget Ordinance - Appropriations dataset from data.cityofchicago.org details the City of Chicago's final operating budget as approved by the City Council. It contains budgeted expenditures categorized by department, appropriation account, and funding type for the fiscal year beginning January 1, 2026. The data represents the official appropriations ordinance for that year.
Use Cases
- Analyze spending distribution across city DEPARTMENTS using DEPARTMENT DESCRIPTION and 2026 ORDINANCE (AMOUNT $).
- Compare funding sources by aggregating 2026 ORDINANCE (AMOUNT $) values grouped by FUND TYPE (Local, CDBG, other Grants).
- Map specific budget lines to departmental units by joining DEPARTMENT NUMBER with DEPARTMENT DESCRIPTION and APPROPRIATION ACCOUNT DESCRIPTION.
- Identify major appropriation categories by analyzing APPROPRIATION AUTHORITY DESCRIPTION and its associated budget amounts.
Strengths
- Data is the official, legally approved budget ordinance for a major U.S. city.
- Provides granular breakdown by at least 10 distinct columns including department, fund, and account.
Limitations
- Dataset scope is limited to a single fiscal year (2026), preventing multi-year trend analysis.
- Contains only budgeted/appropriated amounts, not actual expenditures, limiting analysis of budget execution.
Provenance
- Source
- data.cityofchicago.org, the official data portal for the City of Chicago.
- Collection Method
- Derived from the final Annual Appropriation Ordinance passed by the Chicago City Council.
- Time Range
- Fiscal year 2026.
- Freshness
- Last updated January 7, 2026, reflecting the ordinance for the current fiscal year.
- Geography
- City of Chicago, Illinois, USA.