Editor’s note: The original April 2023 version of this article was lost. The Lee Daily Register rebuilt it in October 2026 from the reporting cited below, and added what happened afterward. The original version gave an estimated net worth of $1 million to $5 million without naming a source. We found no credible outlet that has published such a figure, so it has been removed.
Brandon Johnson, the former teacher and union organizer who was elected Chicago’s next mayor on Tuesday, has no net worth figure from a credible news outlet that we could find. The records reported publicly show income from his county salary and union work, along with some personal debts.
Johnson, 46, beat former Chicago Public Schools chief Paul Vallas in the April 4 runoff, leading 51.4% to 48.6% with 99.6% of precincts reporting, a gap of about 16,000 votes, CBS Chicago reported. Vallas conceded that night. Johnson is scheduled to be sworn in on May 15.
Where his income has come from
From 2018 to 2022, Johnson held two jobs, according to the Chicago Tribune: Cook County commissioner at $85,000 a year and a separately paid position with the Chicago Teachers Union, where his pay varied from year to year. CBS Chicago reported at the time of his win that he was on leave from his union job and not drawing a CTU paycheck.
Johnson released four years of tax returns to the Tribune during the campaign. The Tribune reported in December 2024 that they showed adjusted gross income of $108,019 in 2018, $171,300 in 2019, $160,217 in 2020 and $161,371 in 2021. For 2022, Johnson did not provide the full return, but the Tribune said his campaign’s records showed the family reported about $161,782. The returns also listed small amounts of income as a “media personality,” which his campaign said came from filling in for other hosts on a radio station.
Debts that surfaced in the campaign
In the final days of the race, city documents showed Johnson owed $3,357.04 in unpaid water and sewer bills, and his family owed more than $400 in unpaid parking tickets. The city’s Office of Budget and Management confirmed that he had paid off all of his debts to the city, CBS Chicago reported. The station also reported that in 2016 he defaulted on a Capital One credit card for more than $3,600, a case that ended up in court and was resolved in 2017.
Asked by CBS Chicago whether voters should be concerned, Johnson said having student debt and credit card debt made him a Chicagoan.
What happened next
Johnson took office in May 2023. In September 2023, WBEZ reported that he made $216,210 and would receive a raise of a little over $4,800 if he accepted an automatic 2.24% increase set to take effect the next year. His office would not say whether he accepted it.
In December 2024, Johnson released his 2023 tax returns to the Tribune. The family, filing jointly with his wife, Stacie, reported just over $176,000 in wages for 2023, the year his term began in mid-May, and no income from investments, retirement fund distributions or capital gains. The couple paid $17,302 in federal income tax and just under $8,000 in state income tax, after a $140 credit for property taxes on their Austin home. The Tribune said his most recent city economic disclosure statement reported no financial conflicts in 2023, and that his 2024 pay as mayor had risen to just over $221,000.
The Tribune said his income history is more modest than those of his predecessors while they were in office. Lori Lightfoot reported $402,414 in adjusted gross income for 2021, which included $210,000 in early retirement-account distributions, and Rahm Emanuel reported $554,000 in 2017, including $353,000 from investments, according to the Tribune. We have not found a net worth figure for Johnson from any credible outlet.
