The City Index

Mayors of the 50 Largest Cities

Mayors run cities the way governors run states, so they’re scored the same way — on outcome trends vs. peer cities. Strong-mayor cities get a full performance score; in council-manager cities the mayor shares it with an unelected manager, and we say so.

Cities are scored on economic outcomes only — unemployment, real median income and poverty — against the 50 largest US cities, using the identical trend-vs-peers method as governors. A city grade is not yet a whole-of-governance grade the way it aspires to be for states. 21 of 50 mayors have enough tenure and data to be scored; 21 are ranked. The other 29 carry one of three labels: 0 early reads (scored, still too thin to rank), 16 too early, and 13 not yet scored.

Mayor roster verified July 14, 2026 against city and news sources. Scoring coverage is reported with the scores.

Reading the board — the rank is out of 21, the mayors with enough scored years to rank; each σ is measured against all 49 other cities. Scored on economic outcomes only — unemployment, real median income and poverty — and in council-manager cities the record is shared with an appointed manager (the Government column below says which). Neighboring ranks sit hundredths of a σ apart in places — read near-ties as ties.

Party is the officeholder’s own affiliation, not the ballot line — many of these mayoralties (most California and Texas cities, Phoenix, Seattle, Detroit, Nashville and others) are officially nonpartisan offices. Charlotte’s mayor is a council-appointed interim, not popularly elected.
In office since is the start of continuous service, including any acting period — not the latest re-election. That date also opens the scoring window — load-bearing, not decorative.
Government form follows standard reference classifications, except where the roster flags them, and was not verified city by city. Portland’s 2025 charter pairs an elected executive mayor with a professional city administrator, so the table labels it Mayor–administrator; standard references still file it as a strong-mayor city.
Population is a Census place estimate for July 1, 2025 (Vintage-2024) — an estimate, not a count — taken from Wikipedia’s “List of United States cities by population,” not read directly from a Census release. It also sets the roster: these are the 50 largest incorporated places. Consolidated city-counties the Census reports as CDPs (Honolulu) are excluded, while consolidated governments it reports as incorporated places (Indianapolis, Nashville-Davidson, Louisville/Jefferson) are included — which is why Aurora, CO holds the 50th slot.

The Compare boxes build a side-by-side of up to four mayors — or open the comparison desk directly.