The chancellor of Austria is the head of government of Austria, appointed by the president and viewed as the country's de facto chief executive. The chancellor chairs and leads the Cabinet, which also includes the vice-chancellor and the ministers.

Following World War I, the office was established by the Provisional National Assembly on 30 October 1918 and named state chancellor of the Republic of German-Austria, and its first holder, Karl Renner, was appointed by the State Council. After the Allied powers denied German-Austria to merge with the Weimar Republic, the country formed the federal First Austrian Republic and the office was renamed from state chancellor to federal chancellor. The first federal chancellor was Michael Mayr. There have been ten chancellors who served under the First Republic until Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss created the authoritarian and dictatorial Federal State of Austria. Following Dollfuss's assassination by Austrian National Socialists, Kurt Schuschnigg succeeded him as chancellor and upheld the dictatorship. Schuschnigg was replaced by Arthur Seyss-Inquart, a Nazi caretaker who held the office for two days, until Austria was annexed into Nazi Germany.

Austria under National Socialism lost its original republican system of government and was administered by Reichsstatthalter Arthur Seyss-Inquart (1938–1939), Reichskommissar Josef Bürckel (1939–1940) and Reichsstatthalter Baldur von Schirach (1940–1945). In 1940, the country was renamed Ostmark, completely lost its autonomy, and became a sub-national division of Nazi Germany. After the liberation of Vienna and the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945, Austria restored its republican form of government. However, Austria remained under allied occupation until 1955 and thus the country's sovereignty was ultimately still held by the Allied Control Council.

Since the institution of the republic, the People's Party and the Social Democratic Party have largely dominated Austrian politics; the People's Party (and its predecessor, the Christian Social Party) have led nineteen cabinets and served as a junior partner in eight, while the Social Democratic Party (formerly the Social Democratic Workers' Party) has led eleven and served as a junior partner in five. There have been seven parties that never held the chancellorship but participated in coalition cabinets: the Greater German People's Party in five, the Freedom Party and the Landbund in four, the Fatherland Front in two, and the Greens, the Alliance for the Future and the Communist Party in one.

Following a legislative election or in the case of a vacancy, the president conventionally picks the leader of the largest party in Parliament to serve as chancellor, and appoints the remaining members of the Cabinet based on the chancellor's recommendation. If a sitting chancellor dies, resigns, or is otherwise unable to exercise the powers and duties of the office, the vice-chancellor becomes acting chancellor. If the vice-chancellor is unavailable, the other members of the Cabinet take over in order of seniority.

Bruno Kreisky was the longest-serving chancellor, with more than thirteen years in office, while Arthur Seyss-Inquart was the shortest-serving chancellor, with two days in office, and Walter Breisky was the shortest-serving acting chancellor, with only one day in office.

Key to parties
Austrian People's Party / Österreichische Volkspartei (ÖVP)   1891–1934: Christian Social Party / Christlichsoziale Partei (CS)   2017–present: New People's Party / Neue Volkspartei	Social Democratic Party of Austria / Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs (SPÖ)	1889–1934: Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria / Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs (SDAPÖ)   Freedom Party of Austria / Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ)	Alliance for the Future of Austria / Bündnis Zukunft Österreich (BZÖ)   Communist Party of Austria / Kommunistische Partei Österreichs (KPÖ)   The Greens / die Grünen

Key to historical parties
1920–1934: Greater German People's Party / Großdeutsche Volkspartei (GDVP)	1922–1934: Rural Federation / Landbund (LBd)   1920–1936: Homeland Guard / Heimwehr	1933–1938: Fatherland Front / Vaterländische Front (VF)	1920–1945: National Socialist German Worker's Party / Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP)

No.	Portrait	Name (born–died)	Term of office			Party		Elected	Cabinet coalition	Ref.
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Karl Renner (1870–1950)	30 October 1918	7 July 1920	1 year, 251 days		SDAPÖ	1919	Renner I–II–III • SDAPÖ • CS • GDVP
2		Michael Mayr (1864–1922)	7 July 1920	21 June 1921	349 days		CS	1920	Mayr I–II • CS • SDAPÖ
3		Johannes Schober (1874–1932)	21 June 1921	26 January 1922	344 days		IND	–	Schober I • CS • GDVP • Technocrats
4		Walter Breisky (1871–1944)	26 January 1922	27 January 1922	1 day		CS	–	Breisky • CS • GDVP
(3)		Johannes Schober (1874–1932)	27 January 1922	31 May 1922	124 days		IND	–	Schober II • CS • GDVP • Technocrats
5		Ignaz Seipel (1876–1932)	31 May 1922	20 November 1924	2 years, 173 days		CS	1923	Seipel I–II–III • CS • GDVP • Technocrats
6		Rudolf Ramek (1881–1941)	20 November 1924	20 October 1926	1 year, 334 days		CS	–	Ramek I–II • CS • GDVP
(5)		Ignaz Seipel (1876–1932)	20 October 1926	4 May 1929	2 years, 196 days		CS	1927	Seipel IV–V • CS • GDVP • LBd
7		Ernst Streeruwitz (1874–1952)	4 May 1929	26 September 1929	145 days		CS	–	Streeruwitz • CS • LBd
(3)		Johannes Schober (1874–1932)	26 September 1929	30 September 1930	1 year, 4 days		IND	–	Schober III • CS
8		Carl Vaugoin (1873–1949)	30 September 1930	4 December 1930	65 days		CS	–	Vaugoin • CS
9		Otto Ender (1875–1960)	4 December 1930	20 June 1931	198 days		CS	1930	Ender • CS
10		Karl Buresch (1878–1936)	20 June 1931	20 May 1932	335 days		CS	–	Buresch I–II • CS • LBd
11		Engelbert Dollfuss (1892–1934)	20 May 1932	25 July 1934 †	2 years, 66 days		CS	–	Dollfuss I • CS • LBd • Heimwehr 20 May 1932 – 1 May 1934 Dollfuss II • VF 1 May 1934 – 25 July 1934
							VF
–		Prince Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg (1899–1956) ‡	25 July 1934	29 July 1934	4 days		VF	–	Dollfuss II • VF
12		Kurt Schuschnigg (1897–1977)	29 July 1934	11 March 1938	3 years, 225 days		VF	–	Schuschnigg I–II–III–IV–V • VF
13		Arthur Seyss-Inquart (1892–1946)	11 March 1938	13 March 1938	2 days		NSDAP	–	Seyss-Inquart • NSDAP
Austria was part of Nazi Germany from 12 March 1938 to 13 April 1945
(1)		Karl Renner (1870–1950)	27 April 1945	20 December 1945	237 days		SPÖ	–	Renner IV • SPÖ • ÖVP • KPÖ
14		Leopold Figl (1902–1965)	20 December 1945	2 April 1953	7 years, 103 days		ÖVP	1945	Figl I–II–III • ÖVP • SPÖ
								1949
15		Julius Raab (1891–1964)	2 April 1953	11 April 1961	8 years, 9 days		ÖVP	1953	Raab I–II–III–IV • ÖVP • SPÖ
								1956
								1959
16		Alfons Gorbach (1898–1972)	11 April 1961	2 April 1964	2 years, 357 days		ÖVP	1962	Gorbach I–II • ÖVP • SPÖ
17		Josef Klaus (1910–2001)	2 April 1964	21 April 1970	6 years, 19 days		ÖVP	–	Klaus I • ÖVP • SPÖ
								1966	Klaus II • ÖVP
18		Bruno Kreisky (1911–1990)	21 April 1970	24 May 1983	13 years, 33 days		SPÖ	1970	Kreisky I–II–III–IV • SPÖ
								1971
								1975
								1979
19		Fred Sinowatz (1929–2008)	24 May 1983	16 June 1986	3 years, 23 days		SPÖ	1983	Sinowatz • SPÖ • FPÖ
20		Franz Vranitzky (born 1937)	16 June 1986	28 January 1997	10 years, 226 days		SPÖ	1986	Vranitzky I–II • SPÖ • FPÖ
								1990	Vranitzky III–IV–V • SPÖ • ÖVP
								1994
								1995
21		Viktor Klima (born 1947)	28 January 1997	4 February 2000	3 years, 7 days		SPÖ	–	Klima • SPÖ • ÖVP
22		Wolfgang Schüssel (born 1945)	4 February 2000	11 January 2007	6 years, 341 days		ÖVP	1999	Schüssel I • ÖVP • FPÖ 4 February 2000 – 3 April 2005 Schüssel II • ÖVP • BZÖ 3 April 2005 – 11 January 2007
								2002
23		Alfred Gusenbauer (born 1960)	11 January 2007	2 December 2008	1 year, 326 days		SPÖ	2006	Gusenbauer • SPÖ • ÖVP
24		Werner Faymann (born 1960)	2 December 2008	9 May 2016	7 years, 159 days		SPÖ	2008	Faymann I–II • SPÖ • ÖVP
								2013
–		Reinhold Mitterlehner (born 1955) ‡	9 May 2016	17 May 2016	8 days		ÖVP	–	Faymann II • SPÖ • ÖVP
25		Christian Kern (born 1966)	17 May 2016	18 December 2017	1 year, 215 days		SPÖ	–	Kern • SPÖ • ÖVP
26		Sebastian Kurz (born 1986)	18 December 2017	28 May 2019	1 year, 161 days		ÖVP	2017	Kurz I • ÖVP • FPÖ 18 December 2017 – 22 May 2019 • ÖVP 22 May 2019 – 28 May 2019
–		Hartwig Löger (born 1965) ‡	28 May 2019	3 June 2019	6 days		ÖVP	–	Kurz I • ÖVP
27		Brigitte Bierlein (1949–2024)	3 June 2019	7 January 2020	218 days		IND	–	Bierlein • Technocrats
(26)		Sebastian Kurz (born 1986)	7 January 2020	11 October 2021	1 year, 277 days		ÖVP	2019	Kurz II • ÖVP • Greens
28		Alexander Schallenberg (born 1969)	11 October 2021	6 December 2021	56 days		ÖVP	–	Schallenberg • ÖVP • Greens
29		Karl Nehammer (born 1972)	6 December 2021	Incumbent	2 years, 337 days		ÖVP	–	Nehammer • ÖVP • Greens

• History of Austria
• Politics of Austria
• Elections in Austria
• President of Austria
  • List of presidents of Austria
• Vice-Chancellor of Austria
• List of political parties in Austria

• Official website of the Austrian Chancellery
• List of Chancellors since 1945 on the Chancellery website