Detroit, Michigan
| Detroit, Michigan | |
 | |
| General information | |
Mayor of Detroit Mary Sheffield | |
| Last mayoral election: | 2025 |
| Next mayoral election: | 2029 |
| Last city council election: | 2025 |
| Next city council election: | 2029 |
| City council seats: | 9 |
| City website | |
| Composition data | |
| Population: | 639,111 |
| Race: | White 10.7% African American 77.7% Asian 1.6% Native American 0.5% Pacific Islander 0% Multiple 4.9% |
| Ethnicity: | Hispanic or Latino origin 8% |
| Median household income: | $39,575 |
| High school graduation rate: | 83.4% |
| College graduation rate: | 17.6% |
| Source: U.S. Census Bureau,2020 census and2023 ACS data. Percentages are rounded to the nearest 0.1%. | |
| Related Detroit offices | |
| Michigan Congressional Delegation Michigan State Legislature Michigan state executive offices | |
Detroit is a city inWayne County, Michigan. The city's population was 639,111 as of 2020, according to theUnited States Census Bureau.
Click on the links below to learn more about the city's...
- Mayor
- City council
- Other elected officials
- Elections
- Census information
- Budget
- Contact information
- Ballot measures
- County government
City government
- See also:Mayor-council government
The city of Detroit utilizes a strong mayor and city council system. In this form of municipal government, the city council serves as the city's primary legislative body, and the mayor serves as the city's chief executive.[1]
Mayor
The mayor serves as the city's chief executive and is responsible for appointing department directors, proposing the budget, serving as conservator of the peace, administering oaths, and holding the annual citywide community meeting.[2] The current Mayor of Detroit isMary Sheffield (nonpartisan). Sheffield assumed office in 2026.
City council
The Detroit City Council is the city's primary legislative body. It is responsible for approving certain mayoral appointees, approving the sale or disposal of any city property, passing ordinances and resolutions, approving the procural of city property, approving services by independent contractors, and adopting the budget.[2]
The widget below automatically displays information about city council meetings. The topic list contains a sampling of keywords thatVoterheads, a local government monitoring service, found in each meeting agenda. Click the meeting link to see more info and the full agenda:
Board of Police Commissioners
Community Advisory Councils
Other elected officials
Mayoral partisanship
Detroit has a Democratic mayor. As of February 2026, 67 mayors in thelargest 100 cities by population are affiliated with theDemocratic Party, 22 are affiliated with theRepublican Party, one is affiliated with theLibertarian Party, three are independents, five identify as nonpartisan or unaffiliated, and two mayors' affiliations are unknown.Click here for a list of the 100 largest cities' mayors and their partisan affiliations.
Mayoral elections are officially nonpartisan in most of the nation's largest cities. However, many officeholders are affiliated with political parties. Ballotpedia uses one or more of the following sources to identify each officeholder's partisan affiliation: (1) direct communication from the officeholder, (2) current or previous candidacy for partisan office, or (3) identification of partisan affiliation by multiple media outlets.
Elections
2025
The city ofDetroit, Michigan, held general elections for mayor, city clerk, city council, board of police commissioners, and community advisory council on November 4, 2025. A primary was scheduled for August 5, 2025. The filing deadline for this election was April 22, 2025, and the withdrawal deadline was April 25, 2025. The write-in candidate filing deadline for the primary was July 25, 2025, and the write-in candidate filing deadline for the general election was October 24, 2025.
2022
The city ofDetroit, Michigan, held a special general election for community advisory council District 4 on November 8, 2022. The filing deadline passed on April 19, 2022.
2021
The city ofDetroit, Michigan, held general elections for mayor, city council, clerk, and board of police commissioners on November 2, 2021. A primary was scheduled for August 3, 2021. The filing deadline for this election was April 20, 2021.
2017
The city ofDetroit, Michigan, held elections for mayor, city council, city clerk, and the Detroit Board of Police Commisisoners on November 7, 2017. A primary election was held on August 8, 2017. The filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was April 25, 2017.[3]
2013
The city of Detroit, Michigan, held elections for mayor and city council on November 5, 2013. A primary election was held on August 6, 2013. The mayor and all nine seats on the city council were up for election.
Census information
The table below shows demographic information about the city.
| Demographic Data for Detroit | |
|---|---|
| Detroit | |
| Population | 639,111 |
| Land area (sq mi) | 138 |
| Race and ethnicity** | |
| White | 11.7% |
| Black/African American | 76.8% |
| Asian | 1.6% |
| Native American | 0.4% |
| Pacific Islander | 0.1% |
| Other (single race) | 4.6% |
| Multiple | 4.8% |
| Hispanic/Latino | 8% |
| Education | |
| High school graduation rate | 83.4% |
| College graduation rate | 17.6% |
| Income | |
| Median household income | $39,575 |
| Persons below poverty level | 31.5% |
| Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau,"Decennial Census" (2020). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau,"American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2018-2023). | |
| **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the censushere. | |
Budget
Detroit's fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30. The mayor is in charge of submitting a proposed annual budget to the city council. Before the city council votes on the budget, a public hearing must be held. After the public hearing, the city council must vote to approve the budget with or without amendments.[2]
Fiscally standardized cities data
The fiscally standardized cities (FiSC) data below was compiled by theLincoln Institute of Land Policy to make municipal budgets comparable across cities in the United States.[4]
| “ | FiSCs are constructed by adding revenues and expenditures of each central city municipal government to a portion of the revenues and expenditures of overlying governments, including counties, independent school districts, and special districts. The allocations to FiSCs are estimates of the revenues collected from and services provided to central city residents and businesses by these overlying independent governments. Thus FiSCs provides a full picture of revenues raised from city residents and businesses and spending on their behalf, whether done by the city government or a separate overlying government.[5] | ” |
| —Lincoln Institute of Land Policy[6] | ||
The tables below show estimated finances within city limits. As such, the revenue and expenses listed may differ from the actual city budget.
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Historical total revenue and expenditure
To see the historical total revenue or expenditures as a rounded amount in this city, hover over the bars.[4]
Detroit, Michigan, salaries and pensions over $95,000
Below is a map of the nationwide salaries and pensions in this city over $95,000. To search a different ZIP code, enter it in the search bar within the map.
Contact information
Mayor's office
2 Woodward Ave.
Suite 1126
Detroit, MI 48226
Phone: 313-224-3400
City Clerk's office
Coleman A. Young Municipal Center
2 Woodward Ave. - Suite 200
Detroit, MI 48226
Phone: (313) 224-3260
Clickhere for city council contact information.
Ballot measures
The city of Detroit is inWayne County. A list of ballot measures in Wayne County is availablehere.
Noteworthy events
2020: Events and activity following the death of George Floyd
During the weekend of May 29-31, 2020, demonstrations and protests took place in cities nationwide, including Detroit, following the death of George Floyd. Organized actvitiy began inDetroit, Michigan, on Friday, May 29, 2020, outside of the Detroit Police Department headquarters.[7] On May 31, MayorMike Duggan (D) instituted a curfew.[7] The national guard was not deployed.
2015: Nondiscrimination laws
In July 2015, theMovement Advancement Project described Detroit, Michigan, as a city or county that prohibited discrimination in employment on the basis of gender identity via ordinances that apply to public andprivate employers. At that time, a total of71 ofAmerica's largest 100 cities prohibited private employers from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, while69 of those cities also prohibited discrimination based on gender identity. This did not include those jurisdictions that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity for government employees.[8]
Nondiscrimination laws can cover a variety of areas, including public employment, private employment, housing, and public accommodations. Such laws may be enacted at the state, county, or city level.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑Bridge Detroit, "Why the revision of Detroit’s city charter is so contentious," August 23, 2023
- ↑2.02.12.2City of Detroit, "Charter of the City of Detroit," accessed October 14, 2021
- ↑Detroit Free Press, "Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announces re-election bid," February 4, 2017
- ↑4.04.1Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, "Fiscally Standardized Cities database," accessed June 4, 2021
- ↑Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, "Fiscally Standardized Cities," accessed May 26, 2021
- ↑7.07.1Click On Detroit, "3 days of protests in Michigan: Here’s what happened," June 1, 2020
- ↑Movement Advancement Project, "Local Employment Non-Discrimination Ordinances," accessed July 7, 2015
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