In studies conducted by the National League of Cities in 1979, 1989, and 2001, a few trends in the characteristics of people who serve on city councils can be observed.

Race and ethnicity

The percentage of people of color serving on city councils nearly doubled from 1979 to 2001, rising from 7 percent to 13 percent.  African-American representation remained essentially the same between 1989 and 2001 (10% and 8%, respectively), maintaining gains made in the decade after 1979, when 5 percent of council members were African American.  Between 1989 and 2001, Hispanic council membership increased substantially in medium and large cities, jumping from zero to 6 percent and 1 to 11 percent, respectively.  During the same period, the proportion of Asian Americans serving on councils declined somewhat, from 3 percent to 1 percent.  The percentage of White council members decreased from 92 percent in 1979 to 87 percent in 2001. 

  * = percentages may not add to 100 due to averaging
** = included in Other

Gender

Representation of women on America's city councils increased in all three city size categories between 1989 and 2001.  The proportion of women grew from 21 to 25 percent in small cities, 25 to 36 percent in medium-sized cities, and 33 to 36 percent in large cities.  These gains appear to have made up for a drop in gender diversity on city councils between 1979 and 1989 (from 32% to 26%), meaning there was no more gender diversity on America's city councils in 2001 (28%) than there was two decades before. 

Ideology and party identification

Although nonpartisan council elections are the rule in most cities, party identification remains an important indicator of attitudes that may influence council members' decisions.  Political party identification is a self-description rather than actual party registration and refers to personal partisan identification regardless of whether one is elected in a partisan or nonpartisan election.  In 1989, Democrats (35%) outnumbered Republicans (31%) among council members in all types of cities in 2001. This pattern was most pronounced in large cities, where Democrats were 52 percent of council members and Republicans 19 percent.  Meanwhile, small cities showed a very close balance between the two parties (36% were Democrats and 34% Republicans).   In nonpartisan councils, there are far more members who consider themselves to be independents than in cities that use partisan elections (35% versus 15%).

Sources: 
Svara, James H. Two Decades of Continuity and Change in American City Councils. Commissioned by the National League of Cities, September, 2003.

Woodwell, William H., Christiana Brennan, and Christopher Hoene. The Faces of America's City Councils: America's City Councils in Profile (Part I).  Washington, DC: National League of Cities, 2003.