Tech budget status — Work data 2026 | Stack Overflow Developer Survey

Budget increases outnumber budget decreases 23% to 17%. However, 32% do not know their department’s budget direction.

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Question

Has your department's budget increased, decreased, or stayed the same in your most recent budget cycle? When considering your department, refer to the one you are working in today.

single select
Optional
v2026.1

Data

	Respondents	Percent
I don't know	6,757	32.3%
Stayed the same	5,839	27.9%
Increased	4,713	22.5%
Decreased	3,606	17.2%

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Citation

Response data is released under the ODbL 1.0, which asks that you attribute it.

Stack Exchange Inc. (2026). “Tech budget status”. Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026. Licensed under ODbL 1.0. https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/work/data/tech-budget

JSON

Structured for code, with the question, the year and the source url alongside the numbers.

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  "question": "Tech budget status",
  "dataId": "TechBudget",
  "asked": "Has your department's budget increased, decreased, or stayed the same in your most recent budget cycle? When considering your department, refer to the one you are working in today.",
  "year": "2026",
  "url": "https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/work/data/tech-budget",
  "demographic": {
    "id": "all-respondents",
    "type": "all",
    "name": "All Respondents",
    "n": 20915,
    "share": null
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      "header": "Tech budget status",
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    "url": "https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/",
    "holder": "Stack Exchange Inc."
  },
  "source": "Stack Overflow Developer Survey",
  "data": [
    {
      "response": "I don't know",
      "count": 6757,
      "pct": 0.323
    },
    {
      "response": "Stayed the same",
      "count": 5839,
      "pct": 0.279
    },
    {
      "response": "Increased",
      "count": 4713,
      "pct": 0.225
    },
    {
      "response": "Decreased",
      "count": 3606,
      "pct": 0.172
    }
  ]
}

Markdown

A formatted table, ready to paste into a document, an issue or a prompt.

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| I don't know | 6,757 | 32.3% |
| Stayed the same | 5,839 | 27.9% |
| Increased | 4,713 | 22.5% |
| Decreased | 3,606 | 17.2% |

Spreadsheet

.csv is a plain text format which most spreadsheet software can open.