| Mayor of the City of New York | |
|---|---|
.svg) Seal of the City of New York | |
 Standard of the mayor of New York City | |
_(cropped).jpg) | |
| Government of New York City | |
| Style | His Honor; Mr. Mayor (informal) |
| Residence | Gracie Mansion |
| Seat | New York City Hall |
| Term length | Four years, renewable once consecutively |
| Constituting instrument | New York City Charter |
| Inaugural holder | Thomas Willett |
| Formation | June 12, 1665; 360 years ago (1665-06-12) |
| Succession | New York City Public Advocate, thenNew York City Comptroller |
| Unofficial names | Hizzoner[1] |
| Deputy | First Deputy Mayor,Dean Fuleihan[2] |
| Salary | $258,750 (2024) |
| Website | nyc.gov/mayors-office |
Themayor of New York City, officiallymayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of thegovernment of New York City and the chief executive ofNew York City. Themayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, and most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within New York City.
The budget, overseen byNew York City Mayor's Office of Management and Budget, is the largest municipal budget in theUnited States, totaling $115.9 billion in fiscal year 2026.[3] The city employs 325,000 people, spends about $21 billion to educate more than 1.1 million students (the largest public school system in the United States), and levies $27 billion in taxes. It receives $14 billion from the state and federal governments.
The mayor's office is located inNew York City Hall; it has jurisdiction over all fiveboroughs of New York City:Manhattan,Brooklyn,the Bronx,Staten Island andQueens. The mayor appoints numerous officials, including deputy mayors and the commissioners who head city agencies and departments. The mayor's regulations are compiled in title 43 of theNew York City Rules. According to current law, the mayor islimited to two consecutive four-year terms in office but may run again after a four-year break. The limit on consecutive terms was changed from two to three on October 23, 2008, when theNew York City Council voted 29–22 in favor of passing the term limit extension into law,[4] but in 2010, a referendum reverting the limit to two terms passed overwhelmingly.[5]
The New York City mayoralty has become known as the "second toughest job in America".[6] It has been observed that politicians are rarely elected to any higher office after serving as mayor of New York City; the last elected mayor who later achieved higher office wasJohn T. Hoffman, who becamegovernor of New York in 1869. (The last mayor to win a roughly comparable office wasArdolph Kline, elected to theU.S. Congress for one term in 1920; Kline had become Acting Mayor for part of 1913 without ever having won a city-wide election.) Former mayorEd Koch said that the post was jinxed due to divine intervention, whereasMichael Bloomberg, who — like mayorsJohn Lindsay andRudy Giuliani before him —unsuccessfully ran for president, has called the supposed curse "a statistical fluke".[7]
The current mayor isZohran Mamdani, who waselected on November 4, 2025, and took office shortly after midnight on January 1, 2026.
In 1665, GovernorRichard Nicolls appointedThomas Willett as the first mayor of New York. For 156 years, the mayor was appointed and had limited power. Between 1783 and 1821 the mayor was appointed by theCouncil of Appointment in which the state's governor had the loudest voice. In 1821 the Common Council, which included elected members, gained the authority to choose the mayor. An amendment to the New York State Constitution in 1834 provided for the direct popular election of the mayor.Cornelius W. Lawrence, aDemocrat, was elected that year.
Gracie Mansion has been the official residence of the mayor sinceFiorello La Guardia's administration in 1942. Its main floor is open to the public and serves as a small museum.
The mayor is entitled to a salary of $258,750 a year.[8]Michael Bloomberg, mayor of the city from 2002 to 2013 and one of the richest people in the world,[9] declined the salary and instead was paid$1 yearly.
In 2000, direct control of the city's public school system was transferred to the mayor's office. Thereafter, in 2003, the reorganization established theNew York City Department of Education.
As a position that is elected, appointed, or hired by the city, the mayor of New York must file their oath of office with the city clerk's office and pay a $9 fee by credit card or money order.[10]
Tammany Hall, which evolved from an organization of craftsmen into a Democratic political machine, was an American political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789. It became the main local political machine of the Democratic Party and played a major role in controlling New York City and New York State politics. The organization gained control of Democratic Party nominations in the state and city in 1861, and played a major role in New York City politics into the 1960s and was a dominant player from the mayoral victory ofFernando Wood in 1854 through the era ofRobert Wagner (1954–1965). Its last political leader was an African American man namedJ. Raymond Jones.
The mayor of New York City may appoint several deputy mayors to help oversee major offices within the executive branch of the city government. The powers and duties, and even the number of deputy mayors, are not defined by the City Charter. The majority of agency commissioners and department heads report to one of the deputy mayors, giving the role a great deal of power within a mayoral administration.
"The mayor has the power to appoint and remove the commissioners of more than 40 city agencies and members of City boards and commissions."[11] These include:
The mayor of New York City is anex-officio board member of the following organizations:[11]
According to theNew York City Charter, thegovernor of New York has the power to remove the mayor from office in response to allegations of misconduct, but the governor must hear the mayor's defense of the allegations before doing so.[12][13] The governor can suspend the mayor for 30 days while considering the allegations. In 2024, it was reported that GovernorKathy Hochul was considering whether to use that process againstEric Adams after his indictment on federal corruption charges. Prior to 2024, the last New York governor to consider exercising this power wasFranklin D. Roosevelt, who in 1932 considered suspending MayorJimmy Walker, after the latter was accused of taking bribes from city contractors. Walker resigned before Roosevelt could remove him.[13]
The charter also provides a separate process for the mayor's removal without the involvement of the governor: a five-member "Inability Committee" is formed composed of the city's corporation counsel (head of theNew York City Law Department), the speaker of the New York City Council, a deputy mayor (the mayor gets to choose which one), theNew York City comptroller, and the longest-servingborough president; by a four-fifths vote, the committee can refer allegations of misconduct or incapacity to the City Council, who can then by a two-thirds vote permanently remove the mayor from office, or temporarily suspend the mayor.[12] This process has never been used.[14]
In the event the mayor dies, resigns or is removed from office, the order of succession is thepublic advocate of the City of New York, then thecomptroller of the City of New York.[15] The successor becomes interim mayor pending a special election.
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