Mayor of Boston
Seal
Incumbent Michelle Wu since November 16, 2021
Style	His/Her Honor
Type	Chief executive
Member of	Board of Aldermen (1822–1854)
Residence	None official
Seat	Boston City Hall
Nominator	Non-partisannominating petition
Appointer	Popular vote
Term length	Four years
Constituting instrument	Boston City Charter
Precursor	Boston Board of Selectmen
Formation	Original Post: 1822 Current form: 1909
First holder	John Phillips
Salary	$199,000 (2018)[1]
Website	www.boston.gov/departments/mayors-office

Themayor of Boston is the head of the municipal government inBoston, Massachusetts, United States. Boston has amayor–council government. Boston's mayoral elections arenonpartisan (as are all municipal elections in Boston), and elect a mayor to a four-year term; there are no term limits. The mayor's office is inBoston City Hall, inGovernment Center.

The current mayor of Boston isMichelle Wu.

Prior to 1822, there was no mayor of Boston, because Boston was incorporated as a town. In Massachusetts, a town is typically governed by atown meeting, with aboard of selectmen handling regular business. Boston was the first community in Massachusetts to receive a city charter, which was granted in 1822.^[2] Under the terms of the new charter, the mayor was elected annually. In June 1895, the charter was amended, and the mayor's term was increased to two years.^[3]

In 1909, theRepublican-controlledstate legislature enactedstrong-mayor charter changes it hoped would dampen the rising power ofDemocraticIrish Americans.^[4] Adopted by public vote in the November 1909general election, changes included extending the mayoral term to four years, and making the post formally non-partisan.^[5] The reforms did not have the intended effect; the first mayor elected under the new charter was DemocratJohn F. Fitzgerald ("Honey Fitz"), and every mayor since RepublicanMalcolm Nichols (1926–1930) has been known to be a Democrat.

In a bid to temper the rising power ofJames Michael Curley, the state legislature in 1918 passed legislation barring the mayor of Boston from serving consecutive terms in office;^[6] Curley was prevented from running for re-election twice by this law (November 1925 andNovember 1933). The law was repealed in 1939,^[7] after Curley's political career appeared to be in decline.^[8]

Another charter change was enacted in 1949, partly in response to Curley's fourth term (1946–1950), during which he served prison time for crimes committed in an earlier term. Changes included adding apreliminary election to narrow the field to two mayoral candidates in advance of the general election, changing theBoston City Council from having 22 members (one from each cityward) to having nine members (electedat-large), and giving the council ability to override some mayoral vetoes.^[9] These changes went into effect in 1951, resulting in the first term ofJohn B. Hynes being shortened to two years.

From 1951 through 1991, Boston mayoral elections were held the year before presidential elections (e.g. mayoral election in1951, presidential election in1952). Starting in 1993, due to the election held followingRaymond Flynn's appointment asUnited States Ambassador to the Holy See, Boston mayoral elections are held the year following presidential elections (e.g. presidential election in1992, mayoral election in1993).

In June 2018, the council voted to increase the salary of the mayor to $207,000, effective after the mayoral election ofNovember 2021 (term starting in January 2022); this increased the salary of councillors to $103,500, effective after the council elections ofNovember 2019 (terms starting in January 2020). In October 2022, the council voted to increase the salary of the mayor to $250,000.^[10][1]

There is no official count of Boston's mayors. The City of Boston does not number its mayors^[11] and numbering has been inconsistent over time. For example,Thomas Menino was referred to as the 47th mayor at the time he was sworn in,^[12] yet his successor,Marty Walsh, was identified as the 54th.^[13] The Walsh administration citedWikipedia for its use of 54.^[13][a] That numbering scheme counted persons who served aselected mayors and counted those who served non-consecutive terms more than once (for example,James Michael Curley served four non-consecutive terms and was counted four times),^[13] however, for reasons that are unclear,Leonard R. Cutter, who served asacting mayor in late 1873, was also included in the count.Kim Janey, who became acting mayor in March 2021, referred to herself as the 55th mayor.^[14]

Mayor		Term		In office			Party
		Start	End	Terms won	Duration
	John Phillips	May 1, 1822	May 1, 1823	1	1 year		Federalist
	Josiah Quincy III	May 1, 1823	January 5, 1829	6	5 years, 8 months		Federalist
	Harrison G. Otis	January 5, 1829	January 2, 1832	3	3 years		Federalist
	Charles Wells	January 2, 1832	January 6, 1834	2	2 years		Whig
	Theodore Lyman	January 6, 1834	January 4, 1836	2	2 years		Democratic
	Samuel T. Armstrong	January 4, 1836	January 1, 1837	1	1 year		Whig
	Samuel A. Eliot	January 1, 1837	January 6, 1840	3	3 years		Whig
	Jonathan Chapman	January 6, 1840	January 2, 1843	3	3 years		Whig
	Martin Brimmer	January 2, 1843	January 6, 1845	2	2 years		Whig
	William Parker ‡	January 6, 1845	February 27, 1845	—	2 months		Whig
	Thomas Aspinwall Davis †	February 27, 1845	November 22, 1845	1	9 months		Native AmericanKN
	Benson Leavitt ‡	November 22, 1845	December 11, 1845	—	1 month		Whig
	Josiah Quincy IV.	December 11, 1845	January 1, 1849	3	3 years, 1 month		Whig
	John P. Bigelow	January 1, 1849	January 5, 1852	3	3 years		Whig
	Benjamin Seaver	January 5, 1852	January 2, 1854	2	2 years		Whig
	Jerome V. C. Smith	January 2, 1854	January 7, 1856	2	2 years		AmericanKN
	Alexander H. Rice	January 7, 1856	January 4, 1858	2	2 years		Independent
	Frederic W. Lincoln Jr.	January 4, 1858	January 7, 1861	3	3 years		Republican
	Joseph Wightman	January 7, 1861	January 5, 1863	2	2 years		Democratic
	Frederic W. Lincoln Jr.	January 5, 1863	January 7, 1867	4	4 years		Republican
	Otis Norcross	January 7, 1867	January 6, 1868	1	1 year		Republican
	Nathaniel B. Shurtleff	January 6, 1868	January 2, 1871	3	3 years		Democratic
	William Gaston	January 2, 1871	January 6, 1873	2	2 years		Democratic
	Henry L. Pierce	January 6, 1873	November 29, 1873	1	11 months		None
	Leonard R. Cutter ‡	November 29, 1873	January 5, 1874	—	1 month		Democratic
	Samuel C. Cobb	January 5, 1874	January 1, 1877	3	3 years		None
	Frederick O. Prince	January 1, 1877	January 7, 1878	1	1 year		Democratic
	Henry L. Pierce	January 7, 1878	January 6, 1879	1	1 year		Republican
	Frederick O. Prince	January 6, 1879	January 2, 1882	3	3 years		Democratic
	Samuel A. Green	January 2, 1882	January 1, 1883	1	1 year		Republican
	Albert Palmer	January 1, 1883	January 7, 1884	1	1 year		Democratic
	Augustus Pearl Martin	January 7, 1884	January 5, 1885	1	1 year		Republican
	Hugh O'Brien	January 5, 1885	January 7, 1889	4	4 years		Democratic
	Thomas N. Hart	January 7, 1889	December 31, 1890	2	2 years		Republican
	Nathan Matthews Jr.	January 1, 1891	January 7, 1895	4	4 years		Democratic
	Edwin Upton Curtis	January 7, 1895	January 6, 1896	1	1 year		Republican
Mayoral term increased to two years.
	Josiah Quincy	January 6, 1896	January 1, 1900	2	4 years		Democratic
	Thomas N. Hart	January 1, 1900	January 6, 1902	1	2 years		Republican
	Patrick Collins †	January 6, 1902	September 13, 1905	2	3 years, 9 months		Democratic
	Daniel A. Whelton ‡	September 15, 1905	January 1, 1906	—	3 months		Democratic
	John F. Fitzgerald	January 1, 1906	January 6, 1908	1	2 years		Democratic
	George A. Hibbard	January 6, 1908	February 7, 1910	1	2 years		Republican
Mayoral term increased to four years.
	John F. Fitzgerald	February 7, 1910	February 2, 1914	1	4 years		Democratic
	James Michael Curley	February 2, 1914	February 4, 1918	1	4 years		Democratic
	Andrew J. Peters	February 4, 1918	February 6, 1922	1	4 years		Democratic
	James Michael Curley	February 6, 1922	January 4, 1926	1	4 years		Democratic
	Malcolm Nichols	January 4, 1926	January 6, 1930	1	4 years		Republican
	James Michael Curley	January 6, 1930	January 1, 1934	1	4 years		Democratic
	Frederick Mansfield	January 1, 1934	January 3, 1938	1	4 years		Democratic
	Maurice J. Tobin	January 3, 1938	January 4, 1945	2	7 years		Democratic
	John E. Kerrigan ‡	January 4, 1945	January 7, 1946	—	1 year		Democratic
	James Michael Curley	January 7, 1946	January 2, 1950	1	4 years		Democratic
	John B. Hynes	January 2, 1950	January 4, 1960	3	10 years		Democratic
	John F. Collins	January 4, 1960	January 1, 1968	2	8 years		Democratic
	Kevin White	January 1, 1968	January 2, 1984	4	16 years		Democratic
	Raymond Flynn	January 2, 1984	July 12, 1993	3	9 years, 6 months		Democratic
	Thomas Menino	July 12, 1993	January 6, 2014	5	20 years, 6 months		Democratic
	Marty Walsh	January 6, 2014	March 22, 2021	2	7 years, 2 months		Democratic
	Kim Janey ‡	March 22, 2021	November 16, 2021	—	8 months		Democratic
	Michelle Wu	November 16, 2021	Incumbent	1	4 years		Democratic

† died in office
‡ acting mayor only
^KN Native American Party and American Party were formal names of the "Know Nothing" movement.

Boston's city charter stipulates that the City Council president serves as acting mayor whenever the mayor is absent from the city, unable to serve, or the office is vacant. An acting mayor cannot make permanent appointments, and can only perform urgent tasks "not admitting of delay" (which is somewhat open to interpretation).^[15]

The following individuals served as acting mayor during a vacancy in the office.

• Timeline of Boston
• List of elections in Massachusetts
• List of members of the Boston City Council
• List of mayors of Roxbury, Massachusetts
• List of mayors of Charlestown, Massachusetts
• List of mayors of the 50 largest cities in the United States

• Allison, Robert; Bulger, William (2011).James Michael Curley. Applewood Books.ISBN 9781933212753.
• O'Neill, Gerard (2012).Rogues and Redeemers. New York: Crown Publisher.ISBN 9780307405364.

• State Street Trust Company (1914).Mayors of Boston: Illustrated Epitome of Who the Mayors Have Been and What They Have Done.Boston: Walter Advertising and Printing – viaGoogle Books.
• Child, Christopher C. (February 22, 2021)."Mayors of Boston".americanancestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMayors of Boston.

• Lists of Mayors of Boston at The Political Graveyard

• Mayors of Boston
• 1822 establishments in Massachusetts
• Boston-related lists
• Government of Boston
• Lists of mayors of places in Massachusetts

• Articles with short description
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• Commons category link is on Wikidata