Under the Chicago Mobility Fund, the city vehicle sticker is priced by the vehicle's weight, and the sticker money becomes Chicago's road maintenance fund. Low-speed vehicles (small electric vehicles for short trips), motorcycles and mopeds pay $0, a light car pays $100, most cars pay $175, and the heaviest vehicles pay $500 to $700. It brings in about $94 million a year in new money. About half of it keeps our streets in repair.
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PART OF THE NEW BURNHAM PLAN
DESIGN
Chicago Mobility Fund
The vehicles that wear out our streets pay to keep them in better repair.
Bigger, heavier vehicles take up more space, do more damage and are more dangerous. So they pay more for the city vehicle sticker, and the sticker money becomes our road maintenance fund. Low-speed vehicles (LSVs), small electric vehicles for short trips, register for free, and so do motorcycles and mopeds.
We need more money to fix our roads. Potholes, faded crosswalks and crumbling curbs cost all of us, in repair bills and in safety. Cars wear down the surface; trucks break the road. Yet today's sticker barely notices the difference: $105.18 for any passenger vehicle up to 4,500 pounds and $167.07 above that.
So the sticker is priced by weight. LSVs, motorcycles and mopeds register free. A light car, up to 3,000 pounds, pays $100, less than today. Most cars, 3,000 to 5,000 pounds, pay $175, about $5.82 a month more than today's passenger sticker. Only the heaviest vehicles pay $500 to $700. Electric vehicles get $50 off. Seniors pay $50 for any vehicle under 5,000 pounds (up from $37 today, about $1 a month more). The City Clerk already has your vehicle identification number (VIN), so your vehicle's weight is looked up for you with no new paperwork.
The new weight-based prices raise about $94 million a year, on top of what today's sticker already pays for. About $46 million goes to keeping our streets in repair: patching, crack sealing, surface seals, striping and bollards, the work that makes a street last 20 years instead of 15. $15 million builds city-owned charging for electric cars and small electric vehicles. About $19 million helps low-income residents get around, and $14 million keeps the Chicago Ride fleet running (Chicago Ride is a rideshare service that pays its drivers the Dignity Wage, the plan's minimum wage for adults).
Small electric vehicles are also how we take back our curbs from the 2008 parking meter deal, which sold 75 years of the city's meter revenue to private investors: some metered spaces become LSV-only, and LSVs park free on Yellow Brick Road streets (streets where people walking come first, then bikes) and at local businesses. Delivery LSVs register free too, so delivery companies have a reason to switch.
And if you'd rather not pay more, you'll have better choices than you do today: better buses and trains, safer streets to walk and bike, and small electric vehicles for short trips.
WHAT IT WON'T DO
It doesn't squeeze working families. Households below twice the poverty line get 50% off, below the poverty line 75% off, and families who get the Earned Income Tax Credit can pick the $100 tier whatever they drive.
It doesn't disappear into City Hall. Every new dollar is set aside by city law for the streets and the fund's other uses, on top of what the city spends today, not instead of it.
It doesn't hit all at once. LSVs, motorcycles and mopeds go to $0 in Year 1, every other price moves halfway to its new level in Year 2, and the full prices arrive in Year 3.
How it connects
Nothing in this plan works alone. These are the questions people ask next, and the policies that answer them.
What's a smaller vehicle for short trips? A low-speed vehicle is a small electric car with four seats, doors, a roof and heat that tops out at 25 miles an hour, charges from a regular outlet and registers free.
Low-Speed Vehicles →
What does the road money fix? Paved Paradise repaves 400 miles of streets a year by Year 4 and then keeps every repaved street on a maintenance schedule so it stays good.
Paved Paradise →
Who owns the chargers? The city does. Chicago Powers Itself has the city own its public electric vehicle chargers and keep what they earn.
Chicago Powers Itself →
What's Chicago Ride? Chicago Ride is a city rideshare started under Chicago Human Economy, where drivers are employees earning the full Dignity Wage, with no surge pricing and rides to O’Hare capped at $55.
Chicago Human Economy →
How can small electric vehicles help win back curb space from the parking meter deal? Dibs On Our Streets turns some metered spaces into paid parking for low-speed vehicles only, so the spaces stay in service and a street can close to car traffic without the city paying the meter investors.
Dibs On Our Streets →
FISCAL IMPACT
Revenue Generating
RENOVATION STEP
Design
SHOW THE FULL POLICY DETAILS
01
Where it ranks
HOW WE DELIVER IT · PAY FOR IT
#6 of 6
PAY FOR IT
55 / 100
Enables
Scale
Long-term
PROMISING It turns the city vehicle sticker, priced by the vehicle's weight, into the city's road maintenance fund. It raises about $94 million a year in new money, which goes to road maintenance, free city stickers for low-speed vehicles, vehicle charging and the Chicago Ride fleet. Washington, D.C. already prices vehicle registration by weight. It reaches every car owner and phases in over two years.
See all the priorities
How I set them
02
How it works
Priced by weight
The city sticker (the city's wheel tax) is priced by the vehicle's curb weight, looked up from the vehicle identification number (VIN) the City Clerk already has, so there's no new paperwork. The yearly rates at full strength are: low-speed vehicles (LSVs, small electric vehicles for short trips), motorcycles and mopeds, $0; up to 3,000 lbs, $100; 3,000–5,000 lbs, $175; 5,000–6,500 lbs, $500; over 6,500 lbs, $700.
What you pay today
The 2026 sticker is $105.18 for a passenger vehicle with a curb weight of 4,500 lbs or less, $167.07 for a heavier passenger vehicle, $247.50 for a small truck, $556.92 for a large truck and $55.69 for a motorbike. Seniors pay $37 for a passenger vehicle ($156 for a small truck).
What changes at full rates
A light car up to 3,000 lbs goes from $105.18 to $100. Most cars, 3,000 to 5,000 lbs, pay $175: $69.82 more than today's passenger sticker (about $5.82 a month), or $7.93 more than today's sticker for heavier passenger vehicles. A heavy passenger vehicle between 5,000 and 6,500 lbs goes from $167.07 to $500, about $28 a month more. LSVs, motorcycles and mopeds go to $0.
Electric vehicles
Road wear depends on weight, not fuel, so electric vehicles are priced by weight too, with $50 off their tier to speed the switch to electric. The discount is reviewed in Year 5.
Seniors
Seniors (65 and over) pay $50 for any vehicle under 5,000 lbs, and half their tier above that ($250 or $350).
Low-income protection
Households that get the Earned Income Tax Credit can choose the lowest car tier ($100) whatever they drive. Households below twice the federal poverty line get 50% off their tier, and below the poverty line, 75% off. Enrollment in LIHEAP (the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program) or utility assistance also qualifies.
Phased in over two years
In Year 1 LSVs, motorcycles and mopeds drop to $0, and the low-income sign-up opens. In Year 2 every other rate moves halfway to its new level. In Year 3 full rates take effect.
LSVs and the curb
Small electric vehicles are also one of the ways Chicago takes back its curbs from the 2008 parking meter deal, which sold 75 years of the city's meter revenue to private investors: some metered street parking becomes LSV-only, and LSVs park free on Yellow Brick Road streets (streets where people walking come first and cars can't cut through) and at local businesses instead of feeding the meters. Delivery LSVs pay the same $0 sticker, reviewed in Year 5 with the electric vehicle discount, and any future retail delivery fee exempts deliveries made by LSV, cargo bike or on foot.
Where the money goes
A city ordinance sets where every new dollar goes. The new money is about $94 million a year. Road maintenance and preservation gets about $46 million of it (patching, crack sealing, surface seals, striping and bollards). City-owned charging for electric vehicles and LSVs gets $15 million, and money from paid charging goes back into the fund. Low-income transportation assistance gets about $19 million. Fleet maintenance for Chicago Ride, the city-chartered rideshare service, gets about $14 million. If the money comes in lower or higher than expected, road maintenance absorbs the difference first. The new money is on top of what the city already spends from today's Vehicle Tax Fund. Resurfacing and rebuilds are paid for separately, as construction under Paved Paradise, the plan to rebuild each street once from the pipes up. Yellow Brick Road corridors (streets where people walking come first) are now paid for by the Chicago Remodel Fund, the voter-approved neighborhood fund on the property tax, not by the sticker.
City-owned charging
$15 million a year builds city-owned chargers for electric vehicles and LSVs. The chargers are part of Chicago Powers Itself, the plan for city-owned solar, urban wind, geothermal and microgrids.
Trucks come next
These ideas are proposed but not counted in the numbers: heavier sticker tiers for Chicago-registered trucks by gross weight, trucks kept on truck routes with weight limits on local streets, a street-impact fee on private garbage haulers only after a legal review, and a study of a retail delivery fee.
03
What it costs
Road maintenance and preservation
About $46M a year
EV and LSV charging (city-owned)
$15M a year
Low-income transportation assistance (20%)
About $19M a year
Chicago Ride fleet maintenance (15%)
About $14M a year
Running it: weight lookup, low-income enrollment, outreach
About $0.5M a year
New money a year at full rates (Year 3)
About $94M
This is a model estimate, calibrated to the $126.2 million in 2025 sticker revenue that the city budgeted. It's on top of what today's sticker already pays for through the Vehicle Tax Fund, not a reason to cut it. Charging is a fixed amount and the low-income and Chicago Ride lines are shares, so road maintenance absorbs any shortfall or extra money first. Heavier truck tiers and a hauler fee aren't counted.
04
What it takes to make it happen
CITY COUNCIL
Amend the wheel tax ordinance: the weight tiers, the EV discount, the senior rate, the low-income reductions, the two-year phase-in, and the dedicated uses of the money with its rule that the new money adds to today's road spending instead of replacing it.
CITY CLERK
The Clerk is elected separately and runs the sticker program. The office has to build the VIN-to-weight lookup and the low-income enrollment.
CORPORATION COUNSEL
The city's law department reviews the ordinance before it is filed. State law directs wheel-tax money in cities of 40,000 or more to traffic regulation and street improvement and maintenance (65 ILCS 5/8-11-4). The road share fits that; the charging, low-income and Chicago Ride uses rely on Chicago's home rule power.
SPRINGFIELD
Nothing. The policy relies on Chicago's home rule power to set its own vehicle tax.
VOTERS
No referendum is needed.
05
Timeline
YEAR 1
The ordinance passes. LSVs, motorcycles and mopeds pay $0. The low-income sign-up opens. The city explains the new rates to the public.
YEAR 2
Every other rate moves halfway to its final level. The city processes appeals and adjusts its outreach.
YEAR 3
Full rates take effect. Your new fee shows up when you renew, like today.
YEAR 5
The $50 EV discount is reviewed.
06
Where it's worked
Chicago today
The 2026 city sticker costs $105.18 for a passenger vehicle up to 4,500 lbs, $167.07 above that, $247.50 for a small truck and $556.92 for a large truck. A two-ton sedan and a 4,500-lb SUV pay the same.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK, CITY VEHICLE STICKER FAQ (2026 RATES) ↗
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Federal research
The AASHO Road Test found that doubling an axle load increases pavement damage about 16 times, which is known as the fourth-power rule. The Federal Highway Administration notes that newer research puts the relationship closer to the third power for many kinds of wear, which is still eight times the damage. The road test studied trucks, which is where the evidence is strongest.
SOURCE: FHWA, COMPREHENSIVE TRUCK SIZE AND WEIGHT STUDY, VOL. III, CH. V ↗
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Washington, D.C.
Since March 30, 2026, D.C. has priced registration by weight: $70 a year under 3,500 lbs, $175 for 3,500–4,999 lbs, $300 for 5,000–5,999 lbs and $550 for 6,000 lbs and up. D.C.'s fee is the whole registration; Chicago drivers also pay the state's registration fee.
SOURCE: DC DMV, VEHICLE REGISTRATION FEES ↗
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Paris
In February 2024, 54.55% of voters backed tripling on-street parking rates for heavy cars: gas and hybrid cars of 1.6 tonnes or more and electric cars of 2 tonnes or more. Turnout was low, about 78,000 of 1 million or so eligible voters.
SOURCE: CNN, FEBRUARY 5, 2024 ↗
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07
Sources
Office of the City Clerk, city vehicle sticker FAQ (2026 rates)
FHWA, Comprehensive Truck Size and Weight Study, Vol. III, Ch. V
DC DMV, Vehicle Registration Fees
CNN, February 5, 2024
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Under the plan, the city vehicle sticker is priced by weight. Check your vehicle's weight to see your price: a vehicle up to 3,000 pounds pays $100, and one from 3,000 to 5,000 pounds pays $175. There's nothing to file, because the City Clerk looks up your vehicle's weight from its VIN (vehicle identification number).
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