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Tucson, Arizona

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Tucson, Arizona
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General information

Mayor of Tucson Regina Romero
Democratic Party
Assumed office: December 2, 2019

Last mayoral election:2023
Next mayoral election:2027
Last city council election:2023
Next city council election:2025
City council seats:7[1]
City website
Composition data
Population:542,629
Race:White 54.5%
African American 5.6%
Asian 3.2%
Native American 2.9%
Pacific Islander 0.3%
Multiple 18.3%
Ethnicity:Hispanic or Latino origin 42.2%
Median household income:$54,546
High school graduation rate:87.3%
College graduation rate:30.2%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 census and 2023 ACS data. Percentages are rounded to the nearest 0.1%.
Related Tucson offices
Arizona Congressional Delegation
Arizona State Legislature
Arizona state executive offices


Tucson is a city in Pima County, Arizona. The city's population was 542,629 as of 2020, according to the United States Census Bureau.

Click on the links below to learn more about the city's...

City government

See also: Council-manager government

The city of Tucson 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

See also: List of current mayors of the top 100 cities in the United States

The mayor presides over city council meetings and official city ceremonies. The mayor also represents the city on the state, national and international levels.[3]

The current Mayor of Tucson is Regina Romero (D). Romero assumed office in 2019.

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.[4]

City council

See also: List of current city council officials of the top 100 cities in the United States

The Tucson 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.[2]

The Tucson City Council is made up of seven members, including the mayor. The mayor and all six city council members are elected at large in the general election. In primary elections, city council candidates are elected by ward.[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 Tucson, Arizona.


Mayoral partisanship

See also: Party affiliation of the mayors of the 100 largest cities

Tucson 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

2025

See also: City elections in Tucson, Arizona (2025)

The city of Tucson, Arizona, is holding general elections for city council on November 4, 2025. A primary was scheduled for August 5, 2025. The filing deadline for this election was April 7, 2025.

2023

See also: Mayoral election in Tucson, Arizona (2023) and City elections in Tucson, Arizona (2023)

The city of Tucson, Arizona, held general elections for mayor and city council on November 7, 2023. A primary was scheduled for August 1, 2023. The filing deadline for this election was April 3, 2023.

2021

See also: City elections in Tucson, Arizona (2021)

The city of Tucson, Arizona, held general elections for city council on November 2, 2021. A primary was scheduled for August 3, 2021. The filing deadline for this election was April 5, 2021.

2019

See also: City elections in Tucson, Arizona (2019)
The city of Tucson, Arizona, held general elections for mayor and city council on November 5, 2019. The primary was on August 27, 2019. The deadline for candidates to file to run in this election was May 29, 2019. Click here for more information about the mayoral election.


2017

See also: Municipal elections in Tucson, Arizona (2017)

The city of Tucson, Arizona, held elections for city council on November 7, 2017. A primary took place on August 29, 2017. Three of seven council seats were up for election.

2015

See also: Tucson, Arizona municipal elections, 2015

The city of Tucson, Arizona, held elections for mayor and city council on November 3, 2015. Because no races had more than one candidate from each party, the primary scheduled for August 25, 2015, was called off. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was May 27, 2015, for primary candidates and was September 24, 2015, for general election candidates. Three of the six city council seats were up for election.[6]

Census information

The table below shows demographic information about the city.

Demographic Data for Tucson
Tucson
Population 542,629
Land area (sq mi) 242
Race and ethnicity**
White 58.2%
Black/African American 5%
Asian 3.1%
Native American 2.7%
Pacific Islander 0.3%
Other (single race) 11.6%
Multiple 19.1%
Hispanic/Latino 42.7%
Education
High school graduation rate 87.3%
College graduation rate 30.2%
Income
Median household income $54,546
Persons below poverty level 18.8%
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 city manager is responsible for drafting a proposed annual budget, while the mayor and city council together are responsible for adopting the budget after holding a public hearing.[7]

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.[8]

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.[9]

—Lincoln Institute of Land Policy[10]

The tables below show estimated finances within city limits. As such, the revenue and expenses listed may differ from the actual city budget.


Revenue in 2021
Revenue type Amount
Total Revenue $2,499,378,601
General Revenue $2,219,293,818
Federal Aid $161,105,768
State Aid $775,973,685
Tax Revenue $1,282,214,364
Charges & Misc. General Revenue $319,781,360
Utility Revenue $280,084,783
Liquor Store Revenue $0

Expenditures in 2021
Expenditure type Amount
Total Expenditures $2,495,359,675
General Expenditures $2,084,704,100
Education Services Expenditure $606,425,959
Health and Welfare Expenditure $94,544,391
Transportation Expenditure $252,240,162
Public Safety Expenditure $488,033,729
Environment and Housing Expenditure $304,823,871
Governmental Administration Expenditure $205,341,627
Interest on General Debt $62,935,487
Miscellaneous Expenditure $70,358,874
Utility Expenditure $365,733,288
Liquor Store Expenditure $0
Intergovernmental Expenditures $44,922,287

Historical total revenue and expenditure

To see the historical total revenue or expenditures as a rounded amount in this city, hover over the bars.[8]

See also

External links

Footnotes