Every year the city plans its multi-year capital budget — the big-ticket spending on streets, water, parks, and buildings. Here's how that investment has changed.
Investing more
The city's big-ticket capital spending has grown 16% over five years — from $771M to $894M.
1The story
What we're trackingThe city publishes its Multi-Year Capital Budget each year, forecasting capital expenditure across a five-year horizon.— City of Vancouver open data — Multi-Year Capital Budget (2021–2026)
In plain terms: the city planned to spend $771 million on capital projects in 2021 and $894 million in 2026 — up 123 million (16%). In 2026, the biggest buckets were water, sewers & drainage ($203M) and streets ($189M).
2The evidence
↑ $123M
change over 5 years ($771M → $894M)
16%
growth since 2021
Annual capital expenditure, by budget year
The city's own multi-year capital budget figures — big-ticket spending on infrastructure.
Where it went in 2026
Largest service categories in the most recent budget.
Water, sewers & drainage
$203M
Streets
$189M
Community facilities
$109M
Arts, culture & heritage
$86M
Housing
$63M
3The fine print
How we calculated this
We pulled every year's published Multi-Year Capital Budget (2021 through 2026) and summed the current-year capital expenditure for each. These are the city's own budget figures, not our estimate. The category breakdown shows the largest service areas in the most recent year. Note: these are budgeted amounts, not final actuals.
City of Vancouver open data — Multi-Year Capital Project Budget (2021–2026) · as of 2026-10-21 · Vancouver Promise Tracker — an independent look at whether local leaders deliver on their word.