Report: Kenney Among Top Five Highest-Paid Mayors

The average for big-city mayors in the U.S. is $125K a year. Take a guess on ours.

Mayor Jim Kenney collects one of the nation’s top five mayoral salaries, according to a new report from American City Business Journal, an affiliate of the Philadelphia Business Journal

The report analyzed the nation’s 60 highest-paid mayors, and Kenney’s budgeted annual salary — $218,000 — lands him above 55 of them. His salary soars above the group average of $125,078.

According to the study, a city’s size (including both population and annual budget) plays a key role in determining its mayor’s salary. Because Philly was the sixth-largest city analyzed in the report, it makes sense that Kenney’s salary would secure such a high-ranking spot.

San Francisco mayor Edwin Lee tops the rankings, with a budgeted annual salary of $289,000. (San Fransisco is just the 12th-most populous city included in the report, but its cost of living is stratospheric.) Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti ($238,00), Houston mayor Sylvester Turner ($235,00), and New York mayor Bill De Blasio ($225,000) take second, third and fourth, respectively.

Just seven of the nation’s mayors make annual salaries above $200,000, the study found. Only 23 percent — or 14 — of the top 60 highest-paid mayors included in the study were women.

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