San Francisco, California
| San Francisco, California | |
 | |
| General information | |
Mayor of San Francisco
Daniel Lurie | |
| Last mayoral election: | 2024 |
| Next mayoral election: | 2028 |
| Last city council election: | 2024 |
| Next city council election: | 2026 |
| City council seats: | 11 |
| City website | |
| Composition data | |
| Population: | 873,965 |
| Race: | White 41.3% African American 5.3% Asian 33.9% Native American 0.7% Pacific Islander 0.4% Multiple 9.9% |
| Ethnicity: | Hispanic or Latino origin 15.6% |
| Median household income: | $141,446 |
| High school graduation rate: | 88.8% |
| College graduation rate: | 60.1% |
| Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 census and 2023 ACS data. Percentages are rounded to the nearest 0.1%. | |
| Related San Francisco offices | |
| California's 9th congressional district California's 13th congressional district California Legislature California state executive offices | |
San Francisco is a city in California. It is consolidated with the County of San Francisco, which means that the city and county share a government and their boundaries are coterminous. The city's population was 873,965 as of 2020, according to the United 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
City government
- See also: Mayor-council government
The city of San Francisco 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 proposing a budget, signing legislation into law, appointing departmental directors, and overseeing the city's day-to-day operations. The mayor also possesses veto powers.[1]
The current Mayor of San Francisco is Daniel Lurie (nonpartisan). Lurie assumed office in 2025.
City council
The San Francisco City Council—more commonly known as the Board of Supervisors—is the city's primary legislative body. It is responsible for adopting the city budget, approving mayoral appointees, levying taxes, and making or amending city laws, policies, and ordinances.[2][1]
The city council consists of 11 members, each of whom is elected by one of the city's 11 districts.[2]
The widget below automatically displays information about city council meetings. The topic list contains a sampling of keywords that Voterheads, a local government monitoring service, found in each meeting agenda. Click the meeting link to see more info and the full agenda:
San Francisco Community College Board
Bay Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors
Other elected officials
Mayoral partisanship
San Francisco has a Democratic mayor. As of September 2025, 66 mayors in the largest 100 cities by population are affiliated with the Democratic Party, 23 are affiliated with the Republican Party, one is affiliated with the Libertarian 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
2024
The city of San Francisco, California, held general elections for mayor, city attorney, district attorney, sheriff, treasurer, board of supervisors, community college district, transit district, and superior court judges on November 5, 2024. A primary was scheduled for March 5, 2024. The filing deadline for the primary was December 8, 2023, the filing deadline for mayor and supervisors was June 11, 2024, and the filing deadline for the general election was August 9, 2024.
2022
The city of San Francisco, California, held a special general election for assessor-recorder on February 15, 2022. The filing deadline for this election was November 19, 2021.
A special election for city attorney was held on June 7, 2022. The filing deadline for this election was March 11, 2022.
All superior court races were canceled after all judges were unopposed in their re-election bids. Those races did not appear on either the June 7 primary or November 8 general election ballots.
Regular general elections for assessor-recorder, public defender, board of supervisors, community college board, and BART director and special general elections for district attorney and community college board were also held on November 8, 2022. The filing deadline for this election was August 12, 2022. The filing deadline for board of supervisors was June 14, 2022.
2020
The city of San Francisco, California, held general elections for San Francisco Superior Court judgeships, BART board districts 7 and 9, four seats on the community college board, and all odd-numbered seats on the board of supervisors on November 3, 2020. A primary for the superior court judgeships was scheduled for March 3, 2020. Candidates for superior court judge could win outright in the primary if they received a majority of votes. The filing deadline for judicial candidates was December 6, 2019, the filing deadline for supervisors was June 9, 2020, and the filing deadline for BART board and the community college board was August 7, 2020.[3]
2019
2018
The city of San Francisco, California, held general elections for the board of supervisors, city assessor-recorder, public defender, county board of education members, and seats on the community college board on November 6, 2018. The primary was on June 5, 2018. The deadline for candidates to file to run in this election was March 9, 2018. Click here for more information about the mayoral election.
2016
The city of San Francisco, California, held elections for six of the 11 seats on its board of supervisors on November 8, 2016. The city utilized instant-runoff voting (IRV) for municipal offices, eliminating the need for runoff elections.[4]
2015
The city of San Francisco, California, held nonpartisan elections for mayor and board of supervisors on November 3, 2015. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was June 9, 2015.[5] One of the city's 11 supervisor seats—District 3—was up for election. The winner of the District 3 race served the unexpired term of former supervisor David Chiu ending after the regularly scheduled election on November 8, 2016.[5]
2014
The city of San Francisco, California, held nonpartisan elections for the Board of Supervisors on November 4, 2014. The filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was June 10, 2014.[5]
San Francisco utilized ranked-choice voting for municipal offices, eliminating the need for runoff elections.[5]
Five seats were up for election. These included Districts 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10.
Census information
The table below shows demographic information about the city.
| Demographic Data for San Francisco | |
|---|---|
| San Francisco | |
| Population | 873,965 |
| Land area (sq mi) | 46 |
| Race and ethnicity** | |
| White | 40.5% |
| Black/African American | 5.1% |
| Asian | 35% |
| Native American | 0.7% |
| Pacific Islander | 1.3% |
| Other (single race) | 7.7% |
| Multiple | 10.7% |
| Hispanic/Latino | 15.9% |
| Education | |
| High school graduation rate | 88.8% |
| College graduation rate | 60.1% |
| Income | |
| Median household income | $141,446 |
| Persons below poverty level | 10.6% |
| 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 census here. | |
Budget
The city's budget process operates biennially from July 1 to June 30. The city charter gives responsibility for drafting an expense and capital budget to the mayor, which must then be submitted to the board of supervisors for review and approval by August 1. The city is required by state law to maintain a balanced budget.[6]
Fiscally standardized cities data
The fiscally standardized cities (FiSC) data below was compiled by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy to make municipal budgets comparable across cities in the United States.[7]
| “ |
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.[8] |
” |
| —Lincoln Institute of Land Policy[9] | ||
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.[7]
San Francisco, California, 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
City Hall Room 200
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: 415-554-6141
County Clerk's office
City Hall Room 168
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: 415-554-4950
Click here for city council contact information.
Ballot measures
- See also: San Francisco ballot measures
San Francisco is a city-county equivalent. A list of ballot measures in San Francisco is available here.
Noteworthy events
2025: Recall effort for Board of Supervisors member
An election to recall District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio is scheduled for September 16, 2025, in San Francisco, California.[10][11]
Recall organizers filed a Notice of Intention to circulate a recall petition with San Francisco's Department of Elections on December 3, 2024, and the petition was approved for circulation on January 21, 2025. Organizers gave Engardio's support for Proposition K as the reason for the recall effort.[11][12][13]
Proposition K was a measure that appeared on the November 5, 2024, ballot in San Francisco. It read, "Shall the City use the Upper Great Highway as public open recreation space, permanently closing it to private motor vehicles seven days a week, with limited exceptions?" and passed with almost 55% of voters in favor of it.[14]
Recall organizers have argued that Proposition K will make District 4 neighborhoods less safe through an increase in traffic congestion, increased commute times, increased traffic on residential streets, increased emergency service response times, and the loss of an evacuation route for Western San Francisco.[13] Supporters of Proposition K said that its passage will make the coast more accessible, protect the coast's ecosystem, support local businesses in the area, and that, due to the closure of the Great Highway's southern end, it was of decreased utility to commuters.[15]
Organizers needed to collect 9,911 valid signatures from voters in District 4 to trigger a recall election. On May 22, 2025, they submitted 10,523 valid signatures. If the recall is approved, the mayor will appoint someone to represent District 4 until the city's next election in 2026.[11]
Engardio was first elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2022. He earned 50.9% of the vote in the nonpartisan general election on November 8, 2022.
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 San Francisco, following the death of George Floyd. Events in San Francisco, California, began on Friday, May 29, 2020.[16] On May 31, Mayor London Breed (D) instituted a curfew.[17] The national guard was not deployed.
2015: Study on city's nondiscrimination laws
In July 2015, the Movement Advancement Project described San Francisco, California, as a city or county that prohibited discrimination in employment on the basis of gender identity via ordinances that apply to public and private employers. At that time, a total of 71 of America's largest 100 cities prohibited private employers from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, while 69 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.[18]
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
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 American Legal Publishing, "San Francisco Charter," accessed September 1, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 City of San Francisco, "About the Board," accessed September 15, 2021
- ↑ San Francisco Board of Elections, "November 3, 2020, Consolidated General Election Calendar," accessed July 13, 2020
- ↑ City and County of San Francisco, "Past Election Results," accessed September 15, 2021
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 City and County of San Francisco, "Past Election Results," accessed September 15, 2021
- ↑ City of San Francisco Controller's Office, "Proposed Budget Fiscal Years 2023-2024 & 2024-2025," accessed August 28, 2023
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, "Fiscally Standardized Cities database," accessed August 28, 2023
- ↑ 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 August 28, 2023
- ↑ The San Francisco Standard, "Sunset residents launch effort to recall Supervisor Joel Engardio," December 3, 2024
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 SF.gov, "Member, Board of Supervisors District 4 Recall Election," accessed May 30, 2025
- ↑ CBS News, "San Francisco residents upset over Great Highway car ban seek recall of Supervisor Joel Engardio," December 3, 2024
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 SF.gov, "Notice of Intention to Circulate Recall Petition," accessed June 11, 2025
- ↑ SF Elections, "November 5, 2024 Election Results (Final)," accessed June 11, 2025
- ↑ SF.gov, "Proposition K," accessed June 11, 2025
- ↑ KTVU, "Death of George Floyd sparks Bay Area protests," May 30, 2020
- ↑ NBC Bay Area, "San Francisco Enacts Curfew, Requests Aid From Outside Agencies," June 1, 2020
- ↑ Movement Advancement Project, "Local Employment Non-Discrimination Ordinances," accessed July 7, 2015
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