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St. Petersburg, Florida
| St. Petersburg, Florida | |
 | |
| General information | |
Mayor of St. Petersburg
Kenneth Welch | |
| Last mayoral election: | 2021 |
| Next mayoral election: | 2026 |
| Last city council election: | 2021 |
| Next city council election: | 2026 |
| City council seats: | 8 |
| City website | |
| Composition data | |
| Population: | 258,308 |
| Race: | White 64.2% African American 21% Asian 3.5% Native American 0.3% Pacific Islander 0.1% Multiple 8.4% |
| Ethnicity: | Hispanic or Latino origin 9% |
| Median household income: | $73,118 |
| High school graduation rate: | 93.7% |
| College graduation rate: | 41.3% |
| Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 census and 2023 ACS data. Percentages are rounded to the nearest 0.1%. | |
| Related St. Petersburg offices | |
| Florida Congressional Delegation Florida State Legislature Florida state executive offices | |
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida. The city's population was 258,308 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 St. Petersburg uses a strong mayor and city council system. In this form of municipal government, the city council serves as the city's primary legislative body while 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 represents the city on the state, national, and international levels.[2] The current Mayor of St. Petersburg is Kenneth Welch (nonpartisan). Welch assumed office in 2022.
City council
The St. Petersburg City Council is the city's primary legislative body. It is responsible for adopting the city budget, levying taxes, and making or amending city laws, policies, and ordinances.[1]
The St. Petersburg City Council is made up of eight members, each of whom is elected by one of the city's eight districts.[3]
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 St. Petersburg, Florida.
Mayoral partisanship
St. Petersburg 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 St. Petersburg, Florida, held general elections for city council on November 5, 2024. A primary was scheduled for August 20, 2024. The filing deadline for this election was June 18, 2024.
2021
The city of St. Petersburg, Florida, held general elections for mayor and city council on November 2, 2021. A primary was scheduled for August 24, 2021. The filing deadline for this election was June 18, 2021.
2019
2017
The city of St. Petersburg, Florida, held elections for mayor and city council on November 7, 2017. A primary took place on August 29, 2017. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was June 23, 2017. Four of eight council seats were up for election.
2015
The city of St. Petersburg, Florida, held elections for city council on November 3, 2015. A primary election took place on August 25, 2015. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was June 22, 2015. Four of the eight city council seats were up for election.[4]
Census information
The table below shows demographic information about the city.
| Demographic Data for St. Petersburg | |
|---|---|
| St. Petersburg | |
| Population | 258,308 |
| Land area (sq mi) | 61 |
| Race and ethnicity** | |
| White | 66.2% |
| Black/African American | 19.4% |
| Asian | 3.1% |
| Native American | 0.2% |
| Pacific Islander | 0.1% |
| Other (single race) | 2.1% |
| Multiple | 8.9% |
| Hispanic/Latino | 9.3% |
| Education | |
| High school graduation rate | 93.7% |
| College graduation rate | 41.3% |
| Income | |
| Median household income | $73,118 |
| Persons below poverty level | 11.7% |
| 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 October 1 to September 30. The mayor submits a proposed budget to the city council, and at least two public hearings must be held to comply with the state's "Truth in Millage" (TRIM) requirements.[5]After approval of a final budget by the council, a copy of the budget is posted online within 30 days of adoption to comply with Florida statutes. State law also requires a balanced city budget for each fiscal year.[6][7][8]
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.[9]
| “ |
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.[10] |
” |
| —Lincoln Institute of Land Policy[11] | ||
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.[9]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Municode, "City Charter of St. Petersburg Article III," accessed September 1, 2021
- ↑ Municode, "City Charter of St. Petersburg Article IV," accessed September 1, 2021
- ↑ City of St. Petersburg, "City Council," accessed October 28, 2014
- ↑ Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections, "2015 Election Results," accessed September 16, 2021
- ↑ Florida Department of Revenue, "Truth in Millage (TRIM)," accessed August 28, 2023
- ↑ Municode Library, "Sec. 4.04. - Powers and Duties of the Mayor," accessed August 28, 2023
- ↑ City of St. Petersburg, "Budget and Finance," accessed August 28, 2023
- ↑ Online Sunshine, "The 2021 Florida Statutes Title XII Chapter 166," accessed August 28, 2023
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 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
- ↑ Fox 13 News, "St. Petersburg rally for George Floyd draws large crowd," May 30, 2020
- ↑ Movement Advancement Project, "Local Employment Non-Discrimination Ordinances," accessed July 7, 2015
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