In Brazil, the mayor is the chief executive of the smallest territorial unit — the municipality (Portuguese: município) — and holds executive powers of the local government, in a "strong mayor-council" arrangement. In Portuguese, the mayor is called the prefeito (if male) or prefeita (if female), while the government itself is termed the prefeitura.

The current system of mayor and council (called the Câmara Municipal) dates from the 1930 revolution and the Vargas era, albeit with changes how elections are conducted. Until 1982, Brazilian mayors were usually elected by the local population, with the exception of state capitals, international border towns, and "national security zones" (which included strategic mining places)^{[citation needed]}.

With the end of the military dictatorship and enacting of the 1988 Constitution, all mayors and councillors in the nation are elected every four years.^[1] Mayors are elected by a first past the post system in most municipalities—however, if its population is over 200,000, an outright majority is needed to win or the vote will go to a second round runoff election.^[2] The most recent election was held in 2020.

The federal capital, Brasília, has no mayor; instead, executive duties are carried out by the Governor of the Federal District.

The insular district of Fernando de Noronha which belongs to the State of Pernambuco doesn't have a mayor, but has an administrator appointed by the Governor, the administrator performs the duties of a mayor during a four-year term, and like Brasília, the district doesn't have municipal elections.

In Brazil, mayors of larger cities, such as Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, have considerable influence in national politics and are usually potential presidential candidates.

Mayors of Brazilian state capitals as of April 2021

Town	State	Mayor	Photo	Party
Southeast capitals
Belo Horizonte	Minas Gerais	Alexandre Kalil		Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Rio de Janeiro	Rio de Janeiro	Eduardo Paes		Democrats (DEM)
São Paulo	São Paulo	Ricardo Nunes**		Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB)
Vitória	Espirito Santo	Lorenzo Pazolini		Republicans (PRB)
South capitals
Curitiba	Paraná	Rafael Greca		Democrats (DEM)
Florianópolis	Santa Catarina	Gean Loureiro		Democrats (DEM)
Porto Alegre	Rio Grande do Sul	Sebastião Melo		Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB)
Northeast capitals
Aracaju	Sergipe	Edvaldo Nogueira		Democratic Labour Party (PDT)
Fortaleza	Ceará	José Sarto		Democratic Labour Party (PDT)
João Pessoa	Paraíba	Cícero Lucena		Progressives (PP)
Maceió	Alagoas	João Henrique Caldas		Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB)
Natal	Rio Grande do Norte	Álvaro Costa Dias		Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PDSB)
Recife	Pernambuco	João Henrique Campos		Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB)
Salvador	Bahia	Bruno Soares Reis		Brazil Union (UNIÃO)
São Luís	Maranhão	Eduardo Braide		We can (Podemos)
Teresina	Piauí	José Pessoa Leal		Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB)
North capitals
Belém	Pará	Edmilson Rodrigues		Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL)
Boa Vista	Roraima	Arthur Henrique Machado		Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB)
Macapá	Amapá	Antônio Furlan[5]		Citizenship (Cidadania)
Manaus	Amazonas	David Almeida		Forward (Avante)
Palmas	Tocantins	Cinthia Ribeiro		Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PDSB)
Porto Velho	Rondônia	Hildon de Lima Chaves		Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PDSB)
Rio Branco	Acre	Tião Bocalom		Progressives (PP)
Center-West capitals
Campo Grande	Mato Grosso do Sul	Marquinhos Trad		Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Cuiabá	Mato Grosso	Emanuel Pinheiro		Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB)
Goiânia	Goiás	Rogério Cruz*		Republicans

*Maguito Vilela of the MDB was elected in 2020, but died during his term. Vice-mayor Rogério Cruz thus succeeded him.^[6]

**Bruno Covas of the PSDB was elected in 2020, but died during his term. Vice-mayor Ricardo Nunes thus succeeded him.^[7]