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Riverside, California
| Riverside, California | |
 | |
| General information | |
Mayor of Riverside
Patricia Lock Dawson | |
| Last mayoral election: | 2024 |
| Next mayoral election: | 2028 |
| Last city council election: | 2024 |
| Next city council election: | 2026 |
| City council seats: | 8[1] |
| City website | |
| Composition data | |
| Population: | 314,998 |
| Race: | White 36.5% African American 6.4% Asian 7.4% Native American 2% Pacific Islander 0.4% Multiple 17.2% |
| Ethnicity: | Hispanic or Latino origin 54.7% |
| Median household income: | $88,575 |
| High school graduation rate: | 83.1% |
| College graduation rate: | 25.7% |
| Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 census and 2023 ACS data. Percentages are rounded to the nearest 0.1%. | |
| Related Riverside offices | |
| California Congressional Delegation California State Legislature California state executive offices | |
Riverside is a city in Riverside County, California. The city's population was 314,998 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: Council-manager government
The city of Riverside utilizes a council-manager system. In this form of municipal government, an elected city council—which includes the mayor and serves as the city's primary legislative body—appoints a chief executive called a city manager to oversee day-to-day municipal operations and implement the council's policy and legislative initiatives.[2]
Mayor
The mayor presides over city council meetings and official city ceremonies. The mayor also represents the city on the state, national, and international levels.[2][3]
The current Mayor of Riverside is Patricia Lock Dawson. Lock Dawson assumed office in 2020.
City manager
The city manager is the city's chief executive. The responsibilities of the city manager include overseeing the city's day-to-day operations, planning and implementing the city's operating budget, and appointing departmental directors and other senior-level positions.[2][4]
City council
The Riverside City 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.[2][5]
The city council is made up of eight members, including the mayor as a non-voting member. Seven members are elected by the city's seven wards and the mayor is elected at large.[2][5]
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
Ballotpedia does not cover any additional city officials in Riverside, California.
Mayoral partisanship
Riverside has a mayor who identifies as nonpartisan or unaffiliated. 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 Riverside, California, held general elections for mayor and city council on March 5, 2024. A runoff election was scheduled for November 5, 2024. The filing deadline for this election was December 8, 2023.
2021
The city of Riverside, California, held general elections for city council on June 8, 2021. A runoff election was scheduled for November 2, 2021. The filing deadline for this election was March 12, 2021.
The 2021 elections were the last time the city held elections in odd-numbered years. They switched to holding elections in even-numbered years to line up with statewide elections in 2022.[6]
2020
The city of Riverside, California, held a general election for mayor on March 3, 2020. A runoff election was scheduled for November 3, 2020. The filing deadline for this election was December 6, 2019.[7]
2019
2017
The city of Riverside, California, held elections for city council on June 6, 2017. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was March 10, 2017. Three of seven council seats were up for election.
2016
The city of Riverside, California, held elections for mayor on June 7, 2016. The election was mayoral only; council seats are up in odd-numbered years. Candidates for this election had until March 11, 2016, to file for the race.[8]
2015
The city of Riverside, California, held elections for city council on June 2, 2015. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was March 6, 2015. Four of the seven city council seats were up for election: Wards 1, 3, 5 and 7. Three incumbents ran for re-election. Two of them ran unopposed, while Ward 1 incumbent Mike Gardner faced a single opponent. Ward 7 incumbent Steve Adams did not run for re-election.[9]
Census information
The table below shows demographic information about the city.
| Demographic Data for Riverside | |
|---|---|
| Riverside | |
| Population | 314,998 |
| Land area (sq mi) | 81 |
| Race and ethnicity** | |
| White | 39.2% |
| Black/African American | 6% |
| Asian | 8.3% |
| Native American | 1.1% |
| Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| Other (single race) | 29.9% |
| Multiple | 15.1% |
| Hispanic/Latino | 54.6% |
| Education | |
| High school graduation rate | 83.1% |
| College graduation rate | 25.7% |
| Income | |
| Median household income | $88,575 |
| Persons below poverty level | 12.5% |
| 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 through June 30 of the following year. The city manager presents the city council with a proposed budget at least 35 days before the beginning of the fiscal year. Public hearings are held on the proposal and the city council must pass a budget by June 30.[10]
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.[11]
| “ |
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.[12] |
” |
| —Lincoln Institute of Land Policy[13] | ||
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.[11]
Riverside, 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
3900 Main St.
Riverside, CA 92522
Phone: 951-826-5551
City Clerk's office
3900 Main Street, 7th Floor
Riverside, CA 92522
Phone: 951-826-5557
Click here for city council contact information.
Ballot measures
The city of Riverside is in Riverside County. A list of ballot measures in Riverside County is available here.
Noteworthy events
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 Riverside, following the death of George Floyd. Events in Riverside, California, began on Saturday, May 30, 2020, on Tyler St.[14] No curfews were issued. The national guard was not deployed.
2015: Study on city's nondiscrimination laws
In July 2015, the Movement Advancement Project described Riverside, 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.[15]
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
- Search Google News for this topic
- Riverside official website
- Office of the Mayor
- City Council
- Riverside City Charter and Code
Footnotes
- ↑ The mayor is included in this number as one of the city council members.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Riverside, California - Code of Ordinances, "PART I - CITY CHARTER," accessed September 2, 2021
- ↑ City of Riverside, "Office of the Mayor," accessed September 2, 2021
- ↑ City of Riverside, "City Manager," accessed September 2, 2021
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 City of Riverside, "Mayor and Council," accessed September 2, 2021
- ↑ Riverside City Clerk, "Riverside City Council - Election Date Changes," accessed January 28, 2021
- ↑ Riverside City Clerk, "Elections - March 3, 2020," accessed February 5, 2020
- ↑ Riverside, California City Clerk, "Municipal Elections," accessed September 30, 2015
- ↑ Riverside County Registrar of Voters, "2015 Annual Calendar," accessed January 7, 2015
- ↑ City of Riverside, "Budget," accessed September 2, 2021
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, "Fiscally Standardized Cities database," accessed June 4, 2021
- ↑ 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 May 26, 2021
- ↑ The Press-Enterprise, "Protest over George Floyd killing held in Riverside," May 30, 2020
- ↑ Movement Advancement Project, "Local Employment Non-Discrimination Ordinances," accessed July 7, 2015
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