Stagnation for Women’s Representation in Municipal Office

Women’s representation in municipal office is essentially unchanged following the 2024 elections, according to the latest data from the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. Women currently hold 32.4% of municipal offices nationwide – mayoralties and local council seats – just a tenth of a percentage point more than they held in 2024. More than two-thirds (66.8%) of municipal offices across the United States continue to be held by men.

CAWP’s data on women in municipal offices contains state-by-state information, comparisons to women’s representation in state legislative office, and a ranking of states by women’s representation in municipal offices. The top and bottom ten states for women’s representation in local office are:

“The 2024 elections have proven to be a stasis year for women’s representation across levels of office, and it appears this is the case for women in local office as well,” said CAWP Director Debbie Walsh. “But these numbers also affirm another trend we’re watching closely: the widening gap in women’s representation by party. The top 10 states are nearly all so-called ‘blue states’ or swing states, while the bottom states are uniformly strongly Republican. The movement for gender parity in politics must be a bipartisan undertaking if it is to have any hope of success.”

This data includes information about mayoral offices and members of the municipal legislative branch of incorporated cities and towns with populations over 10,000, per the U.S. Census. The number of cities and towns included in the data varies widely between states. Hawaii, for example, has just one incorporated municipality with a population over 10,000; California, meanwhile, has nearly 400.

CAWP’s 2025 Women in Municipal Office fact page includes an interactive map showing women’s share of municipal offices in all 50 states, as well as a table that exhibits percentages, state rankings, and rank shifts from 2024 for women’s representation in municipal offices. A second table compares women’s representation in municipal office to their representation in state legislatures. Find all of CAWP’s information about women’s representation in local office here.