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Mayoral salaries in the 25 largest cities
According to a report in The Washington Post, mayors make, on average, three times more than the average household income in the cities they represent.
Derek Prall
June 9, 2014
2 Min Read
In the 25 biggest cities in the country, the mayors make about three times the average household income.
That’s according to a report released in The Washington Post Thursday comparing mayoral salaries to 2012 income data from the U.S. Census.
However, the paper found there isn't a strong relationship between how much people in a city make and how much the mayor makes. Cities with higher incomes correlated slightly with higher mayoral salaries, but the correlation was very weak.
The spread in mayoral salaries is tremendous. The Washington Post reports the Mayor of San Francisco, Edwin Lee, makes the most – about $275,000 per year. The Mayor of San Antonio, Texas, Julian Castro, receives a $3,000 a year stipend.
The paper suggests the most meaningful way to look at the data is as a ratio between what the mayor makes compared to the median household income in his or her city. The breakdown looks like this:
San Antonio, Texas: Mayor makes -14.98 times the median household income
Fort Worth, Texas: -1.76
Charlotte, N.C.: -1.43
El Paso, Texas: 1.1
San Jose, Calif.: 1.4
Dallas: 1.45
Austin, Texas: 1.55
San Diego: 1.56
Phoenix: 1.84
Indianapolis: 2.25
Seattle: 2.83
Jacksonville, Fla.: 2.89
Nashville, Tenn.: 2.97
Denver: 3.06
Washington D.C.: 3.11
Boston: 3.29
Columbus, Ohio: 3.46
San Francisco: 3.69
Chicago: 4.32
New York: 4.34
Memphis, Tenn.: 4.43
Los Angeles: 4.68
Houston: 4.68
Philadelphia: 5.37
Detroit: 5.87
The least paid mayor on the list, Castro, presides over what The Atlantic called “the most recession-proof city in the country.”
The Atlantic reports since his election in 2009, Castro has worked to steadily build his city’s diverse economic base – including a $16 billion healthcare and bioscience industry that employs one of every seven workers in the city; two major military bases anchoring the country’s Air Force Training Program as well as the largest new military medical complex, Fort Sam Houston; and a thriving tourism industry making up one tenth of the local economy.
Castro was also recently nominated by President Barack Obama to head up the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to The Washington Post.
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