How Much Are U.S. Cities Spending On Policing In 2020? [Infographic]

Back in 2017, a report compiled by The Center for Popular Democracy, Law for Black Lives and the Black Youth Project 100 shed light on police budgets in major American cities. In the wake of George Floyd’s death and the mass protests that have rocked U.S. cities since, The Center for Popular Democracy released 2020 data which shows that U.S. law enforcement is continuing to receive an astronomical percentage of discretionary funds compared to other crucial community programs. This year, police budgets remain consistently high around the country, ranging from 20% to 45% of municipalities’ discretionary funding.

Funding for law enforcement increased in all of the cities analyzed in the 2017 report but data for some new cities suggests that a limited amount of reform is happening. In Milwaukee, for example, grassroots groups have successfully called for police divestment and that city’s budget for law enforcement is now significantly lower than in previous years. Elsewhere, however, the same financial trends are evident as in previous years. The data shows that the NYPD’s 2020 budget is $5.6 billion, accounting for 7.7% of New York City’s general fund. A general fund is broadly used by a city to support municipal services like law enforcement, the fire department and parks, as well as planning, community development and administrative support services.

In other cities, policing’s share of the general fund is significantly higher. The LAPD’s budget for this year is approximately $1.7 billion and it accounts for more than a quarter of the general fund. In Chicago, law enforcement funding is slightly lower at $1.68 billion but its share of the Windy City’s general fund runs to 37%. For Minneapolis, the city where George Floyd lost his life, there was no new data available for 2020 unfortunately. Back in 2017, however, the police budget accounted for 35.8% of the general fund, totalling $163 million.

*Click below to enlarge (charted by Statista)