The City of Melbourne is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central city area of Melbourne. In 2021, the city has an area of 37.7 square kilometres (14.6 sq mi) and had a population of 149,615. The city's motto is "vires acquirit eundo" which means "we gather strength as we go".

The current Lord Mayor is Nicholas Reece, who replaced Sally Capp on 2 July 2024. The Melbourne City Council (MCC) holds office in Melbourne Town Hall.

Melbourne was founded in 1835, during the reign of King William IV, following the arrival of the schooner Enterprize near the present site of the Queen's Wharf. Unlike other Australian capital cities, Melbourne did not originate under official auspices, instead owing its origins to non-indigenous settlers from Tasmania.

Having been a province of New South Wales from its establishment in 1835, affairs of the settlement had been administered by the Parliament of New South Wales. With the growth of the settlement there had been an increasing demand by the inhabitants for greater autonomy over their own affairs. On 12 August 1842, Melbourne was incorporated as a town by Act 6 Victoria No. 7 of the Governor and Legislative Council of New South Wales.

The town of Melbourne was raised to the status of a city by Letters Patent of Queen Victoria dated 25 June 1847, five years after its incorporation as a town. The Letters Patent also constituted the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne and declared Melbourne a cathedral city. A motion was tabled at a meeting of the Town Council to alter the style and title of Melbourne from a town to a city, a draft Bill was approved and transmitted to the Government for introduction to the Legislature. On 3 August 1849, Act 13 Victoria No. 14 was finally assented to as "An Act to effect a change in the Style and Title of the Corporation of Melbourne rendered necessary by the erection of the Town of Melbourne to a City".

The city's initial boundaries, as set down in Act 8 Victoria No. 12 (19 December 1844) extended from Point Ormond in Elwood up Barkly Street and Punt Road to the Yarra River, along the river to Merri Creek at Abbotsford, then west along Brunswick Road to Moonee Ponds Creek, then south past Flemington Bridge to Princes Pier in Port Melbourne. The Act imposed on the Mayor a duty to set up "permanent and conspicuous boundary marks of iron, wood, stone or other durable material" along or near the line of the Town's boundaries—this was undertaken by Mayor James Frederick Palmer and Town Clerk John Charles King on 4 February 1846.

During the 1850s, Collingwood, Fitzroy and Richmond seceded from Melbourne (all are, since 1994, part of the City of Yarra), as did South Melbourne, whilst other parts became parts of the neighbouring districts of St Kilda and Port Melbourne, and the border between Brunswick and Melbourne moved south one block to Park Street.

On 18 December 1902, King Edward VII conferred the title "Lord Mayor" on the mayor of the City of Melbourne.

On 30 October 1905, Melbourne absorbed two neighbouring council areas. Now included in the City was the Borough of Flemington and Kensington, which had been formed in 1882 when it broke away from the City of Essendon. The second, the Town of North Melbourne, formerly known as Hotham, had been established on 30 September 1859 and been granted town status on 18 December 1874. Both town halls are still in use today as public buildings—the former in Kensington near the present-day Newmarket railway station; the latter in Errol Street, North Melbourne.

The Melbourne and Geelong Corporations Act 1938 allowed for three councillors for each of the eleven wards, with a general election held on 24 August 1939.

The first woman in 125 years to be elected to the council was local businessperson Clare J. Cascarret in 1967. The election was said to have cost her over half a million pounds.

Following a recommendation by the Local Government Advisory Board in 1978, an Order in Council (27 February 1979, effective from 19 May 1979) reduced the wards from eleven to eight. In December 1980, the Hamer Government dismissed the council, and appointed three Commissioners to determine how the boundaries could best be altered to produce more effective local government, with special regard to Melbourne's central business district and its importance to the state, as well as to advise changes needed to the constitution, structure, functions and administration. However, in 1982, with the election of a new Labor government under John Cain, the Act establishing the commission was repealed, and the Melbourne Corporation (Election of Council) Act 1982 established six wards, for which an election was held on 4 December 1982. Three years later, an additional ward was added.

Between 1993 and 1996 the City was again led by Commissioners, along with every local Council in Victoria, while all boundaries were comprehensively reviewed, more than halving the number of Councils.

In 1993, the City of Melbourne Act specified changes to the boundaries which saw Melbourne gain Southbank and the Victorian Arts Centre on 18 November 1993, and the city was resubdivided into four wards – Flagstaff, University, Hoddle and Domain. The wards were abolished in 2001, with the council having a directly elected Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor, and seven other councillors. In 2012, the number of Councillors was increased to nine, in addition to the Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor.

Also in the 1990s, local government control of the docks area on the west side of the city was given to Victorian Government's Docklands Authority.

In 2005, the council announced the construction of a new 6-star environmental office building, Council House 2, in Little Collins Street.

On 2 July 2007, the City of Melbourne almost doubled in size when the suburb of Docklands was re-added to its jurisdiction.

On 1 July 2008, a section of Kensington and North Melbourne was transferred to the City of Melbourne from the City of Moonee Valley.

In July 2009, Lord Mayor Robert Doyle unveiled a new corporate identity for the City of Melbourne, costing $239,558.

Building on the council's longstanding interest in environmental issues, on 16 July 2019, the council voted to declare a climate and biodiversity emergency in line with similar declarations made elsewhere.

Following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the City of Melbourne caused controversy and breached protocol, by failing to lower the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags to half mast, whilst the Australian flag was lowered in mourning.

The City of Melbourne is an unsubdivided municipality, consisting of a directly elected Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor, and nine Councillors. Since 2008, all Victorian councillors serve a four-year term. The most recent general election was held on Saturday 24 October 2020. The next general election will be held in October 2024.

During a general election, the City of Melbourne holds two simultaneous elections – one to elect the Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor (leadership team) and the other to elect the nine councillors. All residents are entitled to vote in the election, as well as up to two of each of the following: non-residential owners and occupiers of rateable property. If a corporation solely owns or occupies rateable property in the municipality, then the corporation must appoint two company officers (director and/or company secretary, or equivalent) to represent it and vote on its behalf.

The current makeup of the Council is:

Party		Councillors
	Team Nick Reece	4
	Greens	1
	Innovate Melbourne	1
	Labor	1
	Liberal	1
	Team Kouta	1
	Team Morgan	1
	Team Wood	1
Total		11

Party		Councillor	Notes
	Team Nick Reece	Nick Reece	Mayor
	Team Nick Reece	Roshena Campbell	Deputy Mayor
	Team Nick Reece	Kevin Louey
	Liberal	Owen Guest
	Greens	Olivia Ball
	Team Kouta	Gladys Liu
	Team Wood	Philip Le Liu
	Team Nick Reece	Mark Scott
	Team Morgan	Rafael Camillo
	Innovate Melbourne	Andrew Rowse
	Labor	Davydd Griffiths

Selected historical census data for City of Melbourne local government area
Census year			2001	2006	2011	2016
Population		Estimated residents on census night	60,745	71,380	93,625	135,959
		LGA rank in terms of size within Victoria		30th	25th	18th
		% of Victoria population	1.32%	1.45%	1.75%	2.29%
		% of Australian population	0.32%	0.36%	0.44%	0.58%
Cultural and language diversity
Ancestry, top responses		Chinese			17.1%	22.8%
		English			16.8%	14.1%
		Australian			12.7%	9.7%
		Irish			7.3%	6.0%
		Scottish			5.6%	4.5%
Language, top responses (other than English)		Mandarin	4.7%	8.1%	10.4%	18.7%
		Cantonese	4.7%	5.6%	4.9%	3.9%
		Indonesian	3.1%	3.1%	2.7%	2.2%
		Italian	1.8%	1.4%
		Vietnamese	1.3%
		Korean		1.2%	1.4%	2.1%
		Arabic			1.5%
		Spanish				1.7%
Religious affiliation
Religious affiliation, top responses		No religion	21.1%	26.6%	33.8%	44.5%
		Catholic	20.2%	18.6%	17.2%	12.9%
		Anglican	11.9%	8.4%	6.5%
		Buddhism	6.2%	7.5%	7.6%	6.9%
		Uniting	4.0%
		Islam		3.5%	4.5%
		Hinduism				4.0%
Median weekly incomes
Personal income		Median weekly personal income		A$566	A$711	A$642
		% of Australian median income		121.5%	123.2%	97.0%
Family income		Median weekly family income		A$1627	A$1962	A$2062
		% of Australian median income		138.9%	132.5%	118.9%
Household income		Median weekly household income		A$1081	A$1352	A$1354
		% of Australian median income		105.3%	109.6%	94.2%
Dwelling structure
Dwelling type		Separate house	5.6%	3.7%	5.1%	2.9%
		Semi-detached, terrace or townhouse	21.1%	16.6%	16.7%	12.7%
		Flat or apartment	70.4%	79.2%	77.9%	83.4%

The 2021 census, the city had a population of 149,615 up from 135,959 in the 2016 census

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Carlton	18,535	16,055
Carlton North^	6,300	6,177
Docklands	10,964	15,495
East Melbourne	4,964	4,896
Flemington^	7,719	7,025
Kensington	10,812	10,745
Melbourne CBD^	47,285	54,941
North Melbourne	14,940	14,953
Parkville^	7,409	7,074
Port Melbourne^	16,175	17,633
South Wharf	106	71
South Yarra^	25,147	25,028
Southbank^	18,709	22,631
West Melbourne	5,515	8,025

^ - Territory divided with another LGA

Year	1954	1958	1961	1966	1971	1976	1981	1986	1991	1996	2001	2006	2011	2016	2021
Population	93,172	89,800*	76,810	75,709	75,830	65,167	59,100*	56,100*	38,504	45,253	60,745	71,380	93,625	135,959	149,615

* Estimates in 1958, 1983 and 1988 Victorian Year Books.

City Loop: Flagstaff Flinders Street Melbourne Central Parliament Southern Cross

Other Royal Park North Melbourne Jolimont Macaulay South Kensington Flemington Racecourse Showgrounds

• University High School
• Victorian College for the Deaf
• Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School

• Carlton Primary School
• Carlton Gardens Primary School
• Docklands Primary School
• North Melbourne Primary School
• South Yarra Primary School

• Christ Church Grammar School (Victoria, Primary)
• Eltham College – Year 9 City Campus
• Haileybury College - City Campus
• Melbourne Girls' Grammar School
• Melbourne Grammar School
• Tintern Grammar
• Wesley College – St Kilda Road Campuses

• St Aloysius' College
• St Joseph's College
• Simonds Catholic College
• St Michaels Catholic Primary School

The City of Melbourne has five sister cities:

• Osaka, Japan (established 1978)
• Tianjin, China (established 1980)
• Thessaloniki, Greece (established 1984)
• Boston, Massachusetts, United States (established 1985)
• Milan, Italy (established 2004)

Between 1989 and 2022, the City of Melbourne had a sister city relationship with Saint Petersburg, Russia; this sister city relationship was indefinitely suspended on 1 March 2022, then terminated on 30 May 2023, as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In addition to the sister cities, the City of Melbourne also cooperates with:

• New Delhi, India
• Bandung, Indonesia
• Chengdu, China
• Guangzhou, China
• Nanjing, China
• Suzhou, China
• Yokohama, Japan
• Vancouver, Canada
• Los Angeles, United States
• San Francisco, United States
• Auckland, New Zealand
• Chicago, United States
• Ottawa, Canada
• Toronto, Canada
• Liverpool, United Kingdom
• Birmingham, United Kingdom
• San Diego, United States
• Shanghai, China
• Nagoya, Japan
• Kobe, Japan

• List of mayors and lord mayors of Melbourne

• Official City of Melbourne website
• What's On
• Metlink local public transport map
• Local history of the city of Melbourne
• Enterprize – Melbourne's Tall Ship
• Link to Land Victoria interactive maps Archived 24 March 2022 at the Wayback Machine