Ask about LA

Answers from the City's own records, with sources.

Los Angeles · the open ledger

Where does LA's money go?

Every check, contract and budget line the City publishes, with the receipt attached.

Type a question in the box for an answer from the City's records, with sources. Ask a question about City money

Today's ledger

$1.15B

paid to outside payees so far in FY2026-27 (through Oct 21), across 156,337 payments; $857.74M at the same point of FY2025-26 (+33.7%)

The Controller posts payments in batches, sometimes weeks after the payment date, so this total grows as new batches arrive.

SourceCheckbook LA · Through Oct 21, 2026

$14.87B

the FY2026-27 adopted budget; $8.60B of it is General Fund

SourceCity budget · Adopted May 27, 2026

45,194

people counted homeless in the City in 2026, up 3.4% — within LAHSA's margin of error

SourceLAHSA 2026 count · Released Jul 24, 2026

This week in receipts

Largest payments to outside payees posted Oct 15, 2026 to Oct 21, 2026

See every payment →

Start with a question

Each answer links to the records behind it

How big is the budget, and is it balanced?$8.60BGeneral Fund, FY2026-27 →Balanced for FY2026-27; gaps projected after Where does the money go?3,587Outside payees paid so far in FY2026-27 →Who gets paid the most?$9.81MLargest payee this week →What does homelessness cost?$343.8MCity payments tracked in FY2025-26 →What do City workers earn?$143KAverage full-time pay, 2025, excl. DWP →Is my neighborhood getting served?1.5M311 requests so far in 2026 →How much crime is reported?164KIncidents reported January–September 2026 →168K in the same months of 2025 (−2.5%)Are we building housing?3,845New-construction permits, 2026 through Oct 23 →3,561 at the same point of 2025 (+8.0%)

City of Los Angeles only

The City government's money. LA County, LAUSD and Metro budgets aren't included; City Ethics records include the few forms LAUSD Board members file there.

Every figure has a source

Numbers come from the City's own datasets and budget documents, and link back to them.

Every figure has a date

Source chips show when data last updated, and turn brass when a source falls behind.

Corrections in public

When we get something wrong we fix it, and the corrections page says what changed.

No ads, no tracking cookies

Built from public records for anyone who wants to check them. Page speed is measured anonymously.