The Mayor of Los Angeles earns a base salary of roughly $318,145 a year, making the LA mayor salary one of the highest for any mayor in the country. The figure isn’t negotiated or voted on. It’s locked to a formula in the Los Angeles City Charter that ties mayoral pay to what California pays its Superior Court judges, so it rises automatically whenever the state raises judicial salaries.
How the Charter Sets the Number
Section 218 of the City Charter builds a cascade. Council members are paid the same as judges of what used to be the Municipal Court of the Los Angeles Judicial District; after California folded the Municipal Courts into the Superior Courts, that benchmark became the Superior Court judge salary.1American Legal Publishing. Los Angeles Charter – Sec. 218 Compensation of Elected Officers and Limitation on Outside Activities Every other elected city official is then set as a percentage above that council baseline: 10 percent more for the Controller, 20 percent more for the City Attorney, and 30 percent more for the mayor.2Control Panel LA. City Elected Officials Pay Rate
As of July 1, 2024, the council member salary is $244,727. Multiply by 1.30 and the mayor’s base lands at about $318,145.2Control Panel LA. City Elected Officials Pay Rate It’s paid biweekly unless the City Council changes the schedule by ordinance.1American Legal Publishing. Los Angeles Charter – Sec. 218 Compensation of Elected Officers and Limitation on Outside Activities
Charter Section 218 also bars the mayor from accepting outside compensation, including honoraria, beyond what the charter itself authorizes. The mayor and the other named officials are required to devote their entire time to the duties of the office.1American Legal Publishing. Los Angeles Charter – Sec. 218 Compensation of Elected Officers and Limitation on Outside Activities So the $318,145 is essentially the whole paycheck.
What Comes With the Job Beyond Salary
Compensation doesn’t stop at the paycheck. The mayor lives rent-free at Getty House, the Tudor Revival in Windsor Square that the Getty Oil Company gifted to the city in 1977 as the official mayoral residence.3Getty House Foundation. History The city handles upkeep, and the house doubles as a venue for official functions. The mayor also gets a city vehicle and a dedicated LAPD security detail, both carried as operational costs in the city budget rather than personal income.
For federal tax purposes, employer-provided housing is excluded from gross income when the lodging is on the employer’s business premises, is furnished for the employer’s convenience, and must be accepted as a condition of employment.4Internal Revenue Service. Employer’s Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits A residence used regularly for city business generally meets all three, which is why Getty House typically doesn’t show up as taxable income on the mayor’s return.
Karen Bass’s Voluntary Pay Cut
In late 2025, Mayor Karen Bass said she would take a voluntary pay reduction as the city faced a budget shortfall approaching $1 billion for fiscal year 2025–26. She did not disclose a specific dollar amount, a percentage, or a firm start date at the time of the announcement. Bass also said she would freeze scheduled raises for her staff. The underlying charter formula hasn’t changed, so the statutory salary remains what the Section 218 math produces; any reduction is a personal choice to accept less than the office pays.
How LA Compares to Other Big-City Mayors
San Francisco technically has the highest mayoral salary in the country at $383,760, but current Mayor Daniel Lurie has committed to accepting only $1 a year. That leaves Los Angeles as the highest-paying mayoralty where the officeholder actually cashes the check. New York City’s mayor earns roughly $258,750. Chicago’s mayor earns about $221,052 after Mayor Brandon Johnson declined an inflation-based raise for 2026. Houston, the fourth-largest city in the country, paid its mayor around $236,000 as of the most recently available data.
Both California cities on that list use formulas tied to other government pay scales, so their mayoral salaries drift upward with cost-of-living adjustments. Cities elsewhere tend to set the number through ordinary legislative votes, where raises come less often and face more political friction.
Looking Up the Current Pay Rate
The LA Controller publishes payroll data for every city employee, including elected officials, on the Control Panel LA open-data portal. Records update biweekly, and the mayor’s current pay rate is visible there alongside every council member’s without any records request.2Control Panel LA. City Elected Officials Pay Rate That is the place to check if the Superior Court benchmark has moved since the July 2024 figures cited above.