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Cambridge

What the city spends to run itself, where the money comes from, and what it plans to build.

Operating budget, FY27

Salaries, services and running costs for a year (July 2026 to June 2027), as adopted.

Operating budget
$1.03B

+$41M (+4.1%) on FY26

Where the money comes from

  • Taxes$759M 73%
  • Charges for Service$107M 10%
  • Intergovernmental Revenue$63M 6%
  • Miscellaneous Revenue$56M 5%
  • Licenses and Permits$38M 4%
  • Everything else$11M (1 more)

Where it goes

  • School Organization$294M new
  • Employee Benefits$154M +9.8%
  • Debt Service$114M +4.3%
  • Human Services$58M −12.4%
  • Police Department$57M new
  • Fire Department$51M new
  • Housing$37M +32.9%
  • MWRA$34M new
  • Every other department$236M (34 more)

Change on FY26.

All 42 departments
DepartmentFY27Change
School Organization$294Mnew
Employee Benefits$154M+9.8%
Debt Service$114M+4.3%
Human Services$58M−12.4%
Police Department$57Mnew
Fire Department$51Mnew
Housing$37M+32.9%
MWRA$34Mnew
Cherry Sheet Assessments$34Mnew
Public Works - Service Programs$33Mnew
Finance$23M+5.5%
Public Works - Support Services$18Mnew
Transportation$16M+13.6%
Library$16M+2.2%
Water Department$15Mnew
Public Works - Planning & Administration$12Mnew
Cambridge Health Alliance$9.0M+1.3%
Emergency Communications$9.0M+4.1%
Community Development$7.0M−22.6%
Executive$6.7M+12.6%
Human Resources$5.1M+9.3%
Inspectional Services$4.1M+1.6%
Law$3.9M+6.3%
Equity and Inclusion$3.1M+64.9%
Office of Sustainability$2.8M−0.3%
Community Safety$2.7M+2.0%
Election$2.1Mnew
City Council$2.0M−3.2%
Capital Building Projects$1.8M+6.3%
City Clerk$1.8M+8.3%
Cable TV$1.6Mnew
Arts Council$1.4M+0.7%
Veteran's Administration$1.2Mnew
License Commission$1.2M−2.3%
Mayor$874K−7.0%
Historical Commission$791K+4.1%
Animal Control$507Knew
Reserve$40Kno change
Human Rights$0
Peace Commission$0−100.0%
Police Review and Advisory Board$0−100.0%
Women's Commission$0

From operating budget and revenue budget on the city’s open data, checked weekly.Last updated on Nov 3, 2026, 5:41 AM EST.

Capital Plan, FY27–31

What the city plans to build and repair over five years. Open a project to ask for a discussion on it.

Total budget, all projects
$735M
Planned spending, FY27
$155M
Projects
56
FY27–31 Capital Plan by department

By department

  • Public Works - Planning & Administration$304M (9)
  • Capital Building Projects$143M (1)
  • Public Works - Service Programs$98M (6)
  • School Organization$40M (1)
  • Water Department$40M (6)
  • Community Development$36M (7)
  • Finance$31M (5)
  • Transportation$19M (8)
  • Every other department$25M (6 more)

Projects

10 projects · $585M in total

From capital budget, on the city’s open data, checked weekly, with amounts as the city published them. A project’s total budget covers the whole project: money spent in earlier years, what is budgeted for each year of the plan, and outside grants. Many projects are citywide or span several neighborhoods.Last updated on Nov 3, 2026, 5:41 AM EST.