The mayor of Boston is the head of the municipal government in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Boston has a mayor–council government. Boston's mayoral elections are nonpartisan (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 in Boston City Hall, in Government Center.

The current mayor of Boston is Michelle Wu.

History Prior to 1822, there was no mayor of Boston, because Boston was incorporated as a town. In Massachusetts, a town is typically governed by a town meeting, with a board of selectmen handling regular business. Boston was the first community in Massachusetts to receive a city charter, which was granted in 1822. 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.

In 1909, the Republican-controlled state legislature enacted strong-mayor charter changes it hoped would dampen the rising power of Democratic Irish Americans.O'Neill, pp. 39–42 Adopted by public vote in the November 1909 general election, changes included extending the mayoral term to four years, and making the post formally non-partisan. The reforms did not have the intended effect; the first mayor elected under the new charter was Democrat John F. Fitzgerald ("Honey Fitz"), and every mayor since Republican Malcolm Nichols (1926–1930) has been known to be a Democrat.

In a bid to temper the rising power of James Michael Curley, the state legislature in 1918 passed legislation barring the mayor of Boston from serving consecutive terms in office; Curley was prevented from running for re-election twice by this law (November 1925 and November 1933). The law was repealed in 1939, after Curley's political career appeared to be in decline.Allison and Bulger, pp. 86–87

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 a preliminary election to narrow the field to two mayoral candidates in advance of the general election, changing the Boston City Council from having 22 members (one from each city ward) to having nine members (elected at-large), and giving the council ability to override some mayoral vetoes. These changes went into effect in 1951, resulting in the first term of John 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 in 1951, presidential election in 1952). Starting in 1993, due to the election held following Raymond Flynn's appointment as United States Ambassador to the Holy See, Boston mayoral elections are held the year following presidential elections (e.g. presidential election in 1992, mayoral election in 1993).

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

Numbering There is no official count of Boston's mayors. The City of Boston does not number its mayors 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, yet his successor, Marty Walsh, was identified as the 54th. The Walsh administration cited Wikipedia for its use of 54. That numbering scheme counted persons who served as elected 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), however, for reasons that are unclear, Leonard R. Cutter, who served as acting 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.

List of mayors Mayor Took office Left office Tenure Party Election John Phillips Federalist 1822 Josiah Quincy III Federalist 1823 1824 1825 1825 1826 1827 Harrison Gray Otis Federalist 1828 1829 1830 Charles Wells National Republican 1831 1832 Theodore Lyman II Democratic 1833 1834 Samuel Turell Armstrong Whig 1835 Samuel Atkins Eliot Whig 1836 1837 1838 Jonathan Chapman Whig 1839 1840 1841 Martin Brimmer Whig 1842 1843 William Parker Whig – Thomas Aspinwall Davis Native American 1844–45 Benson Leavitt Whig – Josiah Quincy IV Whig – 1845 1846 1847 John P. Bigelow Whig 1848 1849 1850 Benjamin Seaver Whig 1851 1852 Jerome V. C. Smith American 1853–54 1854 Alexander H. Rice Independent 1855 1856 Frederic W. Lincoln Jr. Republican 1857 1858 1859 Joseph Wightman Democratic 1860 1861 Frederic W. Lincoln Jr. Republican 1862 1863 1864 1865 Otis Norcross Republican 1866 Nathaniel B. Shurtleff Democratic 1867 1868 1869 William Gaston Democratic 1870 1871 Henry L. Pierce Republican 1872 Leonard R. Cutter Democratic – Samuel C. Cobb Independent 1873 1874 1875 Frederick O. Prince Democratic 1876 Henry L. Pierce Republican 1877 Frederick O. Prince Democratic 1878 1879 1880 Samuel Abbott Green Republican 1881 Albert Palmer Democratic 1882 Augustus Pearl Martin Republican 1883 Hugh O'Brien Democratic 1884 1885 1886 1887 Thomas N. Hart Republican 1888 1889 Nathan Matthews Jr. Democratic 1890 1891 1892 1893 Edwin Upton Curtis Republican 1894 Josiah Quincy VI Democratic 1895 1897 Thomas N. Hart Republican 1899 Patrick Collins Democratic 1901 1903 Daniel A. Whelton Democratic – John F. Fitzgerald Democratic 1905 George A. Hibbard Republican 1907 John F. Fitzgerald Democratic 1910 James Michael Curley Democratic 1914 Andrew J. Peters Democratic 1917 James Michael Curley Democratic 1921 Malcolm Nichols Republican 1925 James Michael Curley Democratic 1929 Frederick Mansfield Democratic 1933 Maurice J. Tobin Democratic 1937 1941 John E. Kerrigan Democratic – James Michael Curley Democratic 1945 John Hynes Democratic 1949 1951 1955 John F. Collins Democratic 1959 1963 Kevin White Democratic 1967 1971 1975 1979 Raymond Flynn Democratic 1983 1987 1991 Thomas Menino Democratic – 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 Marty Walsh Democratic 2013 2017 Kim Janey Democratic – Michelle Wu Incumbent Democratic 2021 2025

See also 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

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Further reading

External links

Lists of Mayors of Boston at The Political Graveyard