This report is a 2026 update with numbers through 2025. The original report with numbers from FY2014-2023 is published here. The Chicago Public Schools District (CPS, or the ‘District’) has over 45,000 employees, all of whom are guaranteed a pension after retirement if they have met service time requirements. The teachers and some administrators participate in the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund, while most non-teacher employees of CPS are members of the City of Chicago’s Municipal…
The Civic Federation's State Pension Dashboard is intended for use as a resource and educational tool to increase the accessibility of Illinois state pension fund data. The dashboard reports metrics for the five state-funded retirement systems of Illinois, with data from fiscal year 1990 to fiscal year 2024. Using this tool, dashboard users can explore trends and compare performance across funds over time.
Each fall, the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget (GOMB) issues its Illinois Economic and Fiscal Policy report, which serves as the State of Illinois’ (Illinois or the ‘State’) primary long-term fiscal planning document and an early indicator of whether Illinois is structurally balanced heading into the next budget year. The 2025 edition of the report, released on October 9, 2025, about a month earlier than required by statute, signals an increasingly strained fiscal environment due to…
The Local Pension Dashboard is intended for use as a resource and educational tool to increase the accessibility of local pension fund data. The dashboard reports metrics for the ten major local pension funds within the City of Chicago and Cook County, Illinois, with data from 1996 to 2024 (2024 CTA data is not included as that data has not been released as of publication). Using this tool, dashboard users can create custom visualizations and comparisons of up to ten funds.
Derek Douglas, Joe Ferguson, and David Greising urge Gov. JB Pritzker to veto recently passed legislation that would increase pension benefits for Tier 2 Chicago police officers and firefighters, warning it will cost taxpayers $60 million next year and $750 million over time while worsening already dire pension underfunding. They note Chicago’s police and fire pensions are only about 25% funded, contributing to a combined state and local pension liability of $459 billion, or $90,000 per…
CPS teachers draw their pensions from a different fund than other employees. Both funds are substantially underfunded. The Teachers’ Pension Fund is less supported by the state than teachers’ pensions in the rest of Illinois. This could be solved by consolidating the Chicago fund with the downstate fund. The District and the City continue to dispute which body is responsible for covering the pension costs of CPS’ non-teacher employees.
by A.D. Quig, Olivia Olander, and Jeremy GornerJune 12, 2025
A coalition of civic organizations is urging Governor Pritzker and legislative leaders to delay action on last-minute Tier 2 pension legislation that could undermine Illinois’ fiscal stability and credit rating. The proposed changes go well beyond the Governor’s original plan and lack sufficient scrutiny or actuarial analysis. The group calls for transparency, careful evaluation, and stakeholder input before any pension reform is enacted.
A comparative analysis of state expenditures finds that Illinois allocates a larger portion of its operational expenditures to pension obligations than most peer states. Illinois’ annual expenditures on state-level public pensions totaled nearly $12.2 billion, or approximately 11% of Illinois’ total operational expenditures, based on FY2023 national data. This substantial allocation surpasses that of nearly all 12 peer states used for comparison, as well as the national average. This…
