Fiscal Futures is a research initiative that examines Illinois’ revenue and expenditure trends to evaluate the long-term sustainability of the state’s budget. The project produces data, analysis, and reports that help policymakers, researchers, and the public understand Illinois’ fiscal challenges and opportunities.
Illinois has struggled for decades with persistent fiscal pressures. Fiscal Futures tracks and analyzes the Fiscal Gap. It also dives into the data for each of these topics:
- Own-source revenues and federal transfers
- Medicaid, healthcare, and social spending
- Pensions, debt, and tax refunds
- K–12 education and other state investments
This repository contains the datasets and analysis code that power the Fiscal Futures work.
This project was founded and developed by David Merriman and Richard Dye
The documentation, website, and data structure was created by Alea Wilbur-Mujtaba, who continues to contribute analysis, code, and reports. Many PhD students have contributed to collecting the data each year and assisted with past reports.
The Institute of Government and Public Affairs (IGPA), University of Illinois, serves as the institutional steward of Fiscal Futures. IGPA will also host additional research projects across public finance, policy, and governance.
/data/– Public datasets and processed files/data/FY 2025 Files– R scripts and Quarto documents for generating figures and tables for FY 2025
Code is released under the MIT License unless otherwise noted.
Data use is subject to the conditions of the original sources.
The Institute of Government and Public Affairs (IGPA) at the University of Illinois connects world-class research with public policy to improve lives in Illinois and beyond. IGPA researchers collaborate on issues such as fiscal and economic policy, education, health, environment, and social equity.
For more information about IGPA and other research projects, visit https://igpa.uillinois.edu.
