The American PB Census
The first current, complete record of participatory budgeting in the United States — who runs it, how they fund it, and what’s actually working.
A shared map of a field that never had one
Participatory budgeting has spread to dozens of American cities — but no one keeps a current picture of the whole field. Programs launch, evolve, and end without a shared record, so every city doing this work has less to learn from its peers than it should. The PB Census fixes that: a single, verified, up-to-date record of every participatory budgeting process in the country.
The details that actually matter
How it’s funded
Budget size, funding source, and how the money is appropriated — the mechanics most cities struggle to get right.
Binding or advisory
Whether residents’ votes actually direct public dollars — the line between real PB and a suggestion box.
Participation
Turnout and reach across the whole community — a measure of representation, not identity scoring.
How it’s run
Technology, voting method, timeline, and who administers it — the operating model behind each program.
50+ programs, one record
From large cities to small towns, school districts to county foundations — the census brings them into one place for the first time.
Run PB in your city? Add it to the census.
It takes about eight minutes. When the census is ready, you’ll be able to see how comparable cities fund and run theirs.
Add your program →Be first to see the census
We’ll email you once when it launches. No newsletter spam — just the census.
Civic Trust will only use this to tell you when the census is live.