Buffalo, New York
| Buffalo, New York | |
 | |
| General information | |
Mayor of Buffalo
Christopher Scanlon | |
| Last mayoral election: | 2021 |
| Next mayoral election: | 2025 |
| Last city council election: | 2023 |
| Next city council election: | 2027 |
| City council seats: | 9 |
| City website | |
| Composition data (2019) | |
| Population: | 256,480 |
| Race: | White 47.1% African American 36.5% Asian 5.9% Native American 0.5% Pacific Islander 0.0% Two or more 4.0% |
| Ethnicity: | Hispanic 12.3% |
| Median household income: | $37,354 |
| High school graduation rate: | 84.6% |
| College graduation rate: | 27.6% |
| Related Buffalo offices | |
| New York Congressional Delegation New York State Legislature New York state executive offices | |
Buffalo is a city in Erie County, New York. The city's population was 278,349 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
- County government
City government
- See also: Mayor-council government
The city of Buffalo 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 is the city's chief executive. The responsibilities of the mayor include proposing a budget, signing legislation into law, appointing departmental directors, and overseeing the city's day-to-day operations. The mayor also represents the city on the state, national, and international levels.[1][2] The acting Mayor of Buffalo is Christopher Scanlon. Scanlon assumed office in 2024.
City council
The Buffalo City Council, also known as the Common Council, 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.[1]
The common council is made up of nine members, each of whom is elected by one of the city's nine districts.[1]
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:
Other elected officials
Mayoral partisanship
Buffalo has a Democratic mayor. As of March 2025, 65 mayors in the largest 100 cities by population are affiliated with the Democratic Party, 25 are affiliated with the Republican Party, one is affiliated with the Libertarian Party, two are independents, four identify as nonpartisan or unaffiliated, and three 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
2025
The city of Buffalo, New York, is holding a general election for mayor on November 4, 2025. A primary is scheduled for June 24, 2025. The filing deadline for the primary is April 3, 2025, the opportunity to ballot filing deadline is April 10, 2025, and the independent candidate filing deadline is May 27, 2025.
2024
The city of Buffalo, New York, held general elections for city court judge on November 5, 2024. A primary was scheduled for June 25, 2024. The primary was canceled and the candidates advanced to the general election after only one candidate filed per seat. The filing deadline for the primary was April 4, 2024, and the filing deadline for the general election was May 28, 2024.
2023
The city of Buffalo, New York, held general elections for city council, comptroller, and city court judge on November 7, 2023. A primary was scheduled for June 27, 2023.
2022
The city of Buffalo, New York, held a special election for chief judge of the city court and general elections for city court judges on November 8, 2022. The filing deadline for this election was August 11, 2022.
2021
The city of Buffalo, New York, held general elections for mayor and city court judges on November 2, 2021. A primary was scheduled for June 22, 2021. The filing deadline for this election was April 1, 2021.
2019
The city of Buffalo, New York, held general elections for comptroller, all nine city council seats, and one city court judge on November 5, 2019. A primary was scheduled for June 25, 2019. The filing deadline for this election was April 4, 2019.
2018
The city of Buffalo, New York, held general elections for city judge on November 6, 2018. The primary was on September 11, 2018. The deadline for candidates to file to run in this election was July 12, 2018.
2017
The city of Buffalo, New York, held an election for mayor and two city judges on November 7, 2017. A primary election occurred on September 12, 2017.
2015
The city of Buffalo, New York, held elections for city council on November 3, 2015. A primary election took place on September 10, 2015. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was July 23, 2015. All nine city council seats were up for election.
Census information
The table below shows demographic information about the city.
| Demographic Data for Buffalo | |
|---|---|
| Buffalo | |
| Population | 278,349 |
| Land area (sq mi) | 40 |
| Race and ethnicity** | |
| White | 45.4% |
| Black/African American | 32.9% |
| Asian | 8.2% |
| Native American | 0.4% |
| Pacific Islander | 0.2% |
| Two or more | 7.4% |
| Hispanic/Latino | 12.7% |
| Education | |
| High school graduation rate | 86.6% |
| College graduation rate | 30.3% |
| Income | |
| Median household income | $48,050 |
| Persons below poverty level | 27.4% |
| 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 by fiscal years running from July 1 to June 30 of the next year. The mayor is responsible for proposing the budget to the common council on or before May 1. The common council will hold public hearings to allow for public input in the budget process. The common council must then approve or amend the budget.[3][4]
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.[5]
| “ |
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.[6] |
” |
| —Lincoln Institute of Land Policy[7] | ||
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.[5]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 City of Buffalo, "History," accessed October 28, 2014
- ↑ City of Buffalo, "Office of the Mayor," accessed October 28, 2014
- ↑ City of Buffalo, "§ 28-9 Fiscal Year," accessed August 23, 2023
- ↑ City of Buffalo, "§ 20-3 Mayor's Budget," accessed August 23, 2023
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, "Fiscally Standardized Cities database," accessed August 23, 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 23, 2023
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 WGRZ, "Peaceful protest turns violent in the City of Buffalo," May 31, 2020
- ↑ Movement Advancement Project, "Local Employment Non-Discrimination Ordinances," accessed July 7, 2015
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