What’s in the 2026 State Budget? Here’s What To Know.

It’s two months late, but it’s finally here: New York state’s $269 billion budget.

The big story of this year’s budget was the face-off between Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who made “tax the rich” a rallying cry of his campaign. Even as she stumped for Mamdani last fall, Hochul was adamant that she would not raise taxes on the wealthy. 

In the end, they split the baby. Mamdani didn’t get what he most wanted: a tax hike on New York’s top earners. But he did get billions of dollars from the state to plug a hole in the city’s budget, new funding for child care, and a tax on luxury second homes in New York City, giving him something to burnish his socialist cred.

Hochul and Mamdani also had to contend with major federal cuts and threats from President Donald Trump about more pain to come. The governor and mayor have managed to stay on good terms. As the budget neared completion, Mamdani said in a statement that they had “partnered through every step of the process.”

The budget contains hundreds of new programs and laws. Some of the most important: limits on police collaboration with ICE, a significant weakening of the state’s landmark climate law, and removal of a major barrier to new housing statewide.

We’ve pored over thousands of pages of budget documents to make this guide, which will tell you about several dozen of the most important decisions lawmakers made this budget cycle. In the chart below, you can see where each party stood and what made it into the final deal. Below that, you can find written descriptions using the drop-down menus. Happy reading!