Is Geography Destiny for Women’s Representation in Local Office?

Women’s representation in municipal office is essentially unchanged from this time last year, according to updated data from the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. As in previous years, this data collection reinforces an ongoing dilemma in women’s representation in American politics: women’s political power remains dependent upon where you live and what party holds more sway there.

CAWP’s annual release of data regarding women’s representation in mayoral and local councils shows that women hold just 32.7% of these seats nationwide, barely more than the 32.4% held by women in April of 2025. CAWP’s data on women in municipal offices contains state-by-state information, comparisons to women’s representation in state legislative office, and a ranking of states by women’s representation in municipal offices. The top and bottom ten states for women’s representation in local office in 2026 are:

The geographic divide in women’s representation in local offices is a stark one, reflecting the reality that where women live affects their leadership opportunities. The ten states where women hold greater proportions of municipal offices are concentrated in the West and Northeast, while the bottom ten are clustered in the South and Great Plains, a geographic divide that is in fact a partisan one. For example, most of the states in the top ten have Democrat-led state legislatures, while all of the states in the bottom ten are Republican strongholds. Not a single state from the South appears in the top ten, and not a single blue-leaning state appears in the bottom ten.

“It’s dispiriting to see such glacial progress in women’s representation in these offices, which, before CAWP’s regular data collections on local office began, were long assumed to harbor higher rates of political representation for women,” said CAWP Director Debbie Walsh. “We must look at ongoing structural impediments to representation for women, including within our political parties. In local office, in state legislatures, in Congress, we see the same pattern repeating: women are faring well among Democrats and in blue states but are largely struggling in red states and among Republicans. Without buy-in across the political spectrum, women will never reach parity in American government.”

This data includes information about mayoral offices and members of the municipal legislative branch of incorporated cities and towns with populations over 10,000, per the U.S. Census. The number of cities and towns included in the data varies widely between states. Hawaii, for example, has just one incorporated municipality with a population over 10,000; California, meanwhile, has nearly 400.

CAWP’s 2026 Women in Municipal Office fact page includes an interactive map showing women’s share of municipal offices in all 50 states, as well as a table that exhibits percentages, state rankings, and rank shifts from 2025 for women’s representation in municipal offices. A second table compares women’s representation in municipal office to their representation in state legislatures. Find all of CAWP’s information about women’s representation in local office here.