It pays big to lead a city — sometimes more than it does to lead the state.
Zohran Mamdani, the newly inaugurated mayor of New York City, is joining the exclusive ranks of mayors who outearn their governors’ salaries.
Mayor salaries range widely across the nation, with some in smaller towns earning as little as a couple of thousand dollars a year, to the six-figure salaries that many major city leaders earn.
Since mayors’ salaries are set at the local level by city councils and local legislatures, there are no centralized reports on what mayors earn across all cities and towns.
And a larger city doesn’t always mean a bigger payday for its mayor. Some high-earning enclaves with as few as 1,000 residents pay their mayors higher salaries than those in some of the nation’s largest cities.
We compiled recent reports on local mayor salaries to identify mayors who earn more than $200,000 a year. We also identified the size of the cities they lead using the latest US Census population estimates.
Here are 19 of the highest-paid mayors in the country.
Dearborn, Michigan
Population: 106,377
Mayor: Abdullah Hammoud
Salary: $212,083 in 2026, as reported by the Detroit Free Press.
Chicago
Population: 2,721,308
Mayor: Brandon Johnson
Salary: $221,052 in 2026, as reported by Block Club Chicago, after Johnson decided to skip an annual inflation raise to his compensation.
Oakland, California
Population: 443,554
Mayor: Barbara Lee
Salary: $222,312 as of 2024, according to California state records.
Lee’s predecessor — Sheng Thao, who left office in November 2024 — was mayor at the time of the reported salary.
San Jose, California
Population: 997,368
Mayor: Matt Mahan
Salary: $226,479 as of 2024, per California state records.
Medley, Florida
Population: 1,036 (per the Miami New Times)
Mayor: Ana “Lily” Stefano
Salary: $230,872, as reported by the Miami New Times in 2025.
Houston
Population: 2,390,125
Mayor: John Whitmire
Salary: $236,189 as of 2022, as reported by the Houston Chronicle.
Whitmire’s predecessor, Sylvester Turner, was in office at the time the salary was reported. Whitmire was sworn into office on January 2, 2024.
Bellingham, Washington
Population: 95,860
Mayor: Kim Lund
Salary: $237,000, as reported by Cascadia Daily News in 2025.
The mayor decided to forgo a cost-of-living raise in 2026.
San Diego, California
Population: 1,404,452
Mayor: Todd Gloria
Salary: $244,147 as of 2024, per California state records.
Maui, Hawaii
Population: 163,688
Mayor: Richard Bissen
Salary: $245,000, as reported by the Honolulu Civil Beat in 2025.
Washington, DC
Population: 702,250
Mayor: Muriel Bowser
Salary: $250,000, according to the District of Columbia law, effective since 2023.
Boston
Population: 673,458
Mayor: Michelle Wu
Salary: $250,000 in 2026, as reported by Boston.com.
Florida City, Florida
Population: 13,157
Mayor: Otis T. Wallace
Salary: $250,328, plus a $5,600 expense account, phone, and car, as reported by the Miami New Times in 2025.
Wallace has been the city’s mayor since 1984, with a salary that reflects his combined responsibilities serving as both mayor and city manager.
New York City
Population: 8,478,072
Mayor: Zohran Mamdani
Salary: $258,750, as previously reported by Business Insider.
Rosemont, Illinois
Population: 4,145
Mayor: Bradley Stephens
Salary: $260,000, as reported by the local outlet the Daily Herald in 2024.
Philadelphia
Population: 1,573,916
Mayor: Cherelle Parker
Salary: $269,708, as reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2025.
Quincy, Massachusetts
Population: 101,607
Mayor: Thomas Koch
Salary: $285,000, after a pay raise approved by the City Council in 2024, WBUR reported.
Oxnard, California
Population: 200,616
Mayor: Luis A. McArthur
Salary: $323,282 as of 2024, per California state records.
McArthur’s predecessor, John C. Zaragoza, was in office at the time of the reported salary. McArthur was sworn into office on December 11, 2024.
Los Angeles
Population: 3,878,704
Mayor: Karen Bass
Salary: $328,395 as of 2024, per California state records. Local reporting in 2025 put the number at $301,000.
San Francisco
Population: 827,526
Mayor: Daniel Lurie
Salary: $383,760 as of 2024, according to California state records.
However, Lurie decided to take a $1 salary from the city, as reported by local outlet KQED in 2024.
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