Chicago Budget 2027

Chicago’s $882 Million Question

The city expects to spend $882.4 million more than it takes in next year. Here are three ways to explore it, from a straight news quiz to a full city simulation.

1 of 3 · Straight news

News quiz

How Well Do You Know the Budget Gap?

Five multiple-choice questions about the forecast and the mayor’s plan to close it, each with a short explanation and its source. About two minutes.

Take the quiz →

2 of 3 · Playful

Game-show quiz

Ballpark! Guess the Big Numbers

Slide to guess six real figures from the budget fight. The closer you get, the more points you score, and you can share your results grid at the end.

Start guessing →

Isometric 3D view of downtown Chicago with a budget console showing a $418.5 million gap

3 of 3 · Full simulation

Simulation game

Gap City: You’re the Mayor

Raise taxes, cut spending or borrow, win 26 council votes, then watch a year play out across a 3D Chicago. Every choice links to its source.

Play the game →

How long the AI took

All three pieces were built by an AI coding agent (Claude Code) on Nov. 1, 2026. Times come from the session log.

News quiz About 2 min.

Writing the five questions and the quiz page. The same 3½-minute request also produced the first version of this page and a test pass on desktop and phone.

Ballpark! About 4 min.

Two minutes to write the game and two more to test and fix it. The same 6-minute request also redesigned this page and published the site.

Gap City About 26 min.

About 3 minutes reading the sources, 20 writing the 3D game and 3 testing, fixing and publishing a first version. Most of the work was deciding the budget choices and placing Chicago’s landmarks.

About 49 minutes from the first request to this site going live. That doesn’t count the time a person spent reviewing the work and asking for changes. Fast isn’t the same as checked: the figures were checked against the sources below, and they still deserve an editor’s review.