City spending

Citywide General Government

The city's published checkbook records $10,511,905,535 paid out under this department across 65,816 payment lines and 938 named vendors, FY2018–FY2026.

Department name as the city's finance system records it. The city's budget year runs July 1 to June 30, so FY2026 means July 2025 through June 2026.

By fiscal year

FY2018$721,905,073

FY2019$1,087,307,708

FY2020$1,098,527,643

FY2021$1,516,660,286

FY2022$1,081,658,905

FY2023$1,210,783,310

FY2024$1,135,071,123

FY2025$1,388,163,644

FY2026$1,271,827,843

The city publishes this a few times a year, so it runs behind — the newest payments can take a few months to appear, and a fiscal year that has just ended usually isn't published at all yet. Treat the most recent year as incomplete.

Largest vendors (25 of 938)

JP MORGAN CHASE BANK$2,893,500,928

State Street Bank and Trust$1,780,039,636

NORTHERN TRUST COMPANY$1,600,318,680

THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON$907,877,180

WELLS FARGO BANK$646,966,466

GREAT-WEST LIFE & ANNUITY$382,221,731

UMB BANK N.A.$319,966,758

HOUSTON FORENSIC SCIENCE LGC INC$260,457,866

EMPOWER ANNUITY INSURANCE$202,169,106

ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE$109,933,977

HOUSTON FIRST CORPORATION$106,292,724

ONEAMERICA$106,100,968

HARRIS COUNTY APPRAISAL DIST$99,716,395

AMERICAN FAMILY LIFE ASSURANCE$50,087,121

H P O A BENEFIT TRUST FUND$44,090,041

HOUSTON POLICE OFFICER'S UNION$34,676,921

TOTAL ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES$26,555,486

I A F F LOCAL 341$26,374,129

HARRIS COUNTY MUD #358$22,634,236

GRAND LAKES MUD #2$21,853,798

CONTINENTAL AMERICAN INSURANCE$21,443,720

HARRIS COUNTY-HOUSTON SPORTS$20,883,409

SOUTHERN MONTGOMERY COUNTY$19,321,992

BAYBROOK MUD #1$18,997,072

WAGEWORKS INC.$18,858,849

What this does and doesn't show

These are payments, not a budget. The same ledger carries debt payments, bank and pension transfers and accounting reversals alongside what the city bought, so adding it all up doesn't describe city spending — which is why you won't find a citywide total here. What a named vendor or department was paid is solid.
Some payments name no company: the city files them under "GENERAL ONE-TIME VENDOR" or a bare asterisk — $617,266,200 across FY2018–FY2026, about 1.2% of all payments. Much of that is properly private, like legal settlements and housing assistance paid to individuals. Those payments aren't listed as vendors here because there's no vendor to list.
A department total here is what moved through that department's books, not its budget. Funds it administers on someone else's behalf are included.

From the City of Houston's published checkbook ↗.