The following is a chronological list of mayors of Hamburg, a city-state in Germany. The mayors are the head of the city-state, part of the government of Hamburg. Since 1861, according to the constitution of 28 September 1860, the state has been governed by the ten-member Senate, which had previously been called the council (in the German language of that time: Rath). It is headed by the first mayor of Hamburg (German title: Erster Bürgermeister der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg) as the president of the Senate. The deputy is the second mayor.
For much of its history, Hamburg was a free imperial city and later a sovereign state; the position of First Mayor historically was equivalent to that of a sovereign head of state. In the 1871–1918 German Empire, the Hamburg First Mayor was equivalent to the federal princes of the 23 German monarchies (4 of whom held the title of King and the others holding titles such as Grand Duke, Duke or Sovereign Prince). Since 1918, the position is equivalent to that of the minister-presidents of the (West) German states.
Prior to World War I, the two mayors were elected for one-year terms. Until 1997, the first mayor was primus inter pares among, and was elected by, the members of the Senate. Since then, the Hamburg Parliament (German: Hamburgische Bürgerschaft) has elected the first mayor; the first mayor is able to appoint and dismiss other senators.
1293–1860
The function of burgomaster (mayor) was usually held simultaneously by three persons, serving as an executive college. One of the three being burgomaster in chief for a year, the second being the prior burgomaster in chief, the third being the upcoming one. Therefore, sometimes up to three names are mentioned for one year, since the names of the three appear in deeds, signed with or mentioning their names. The names in the list from 1239 until 1820 were archived in a book by Johann August Meister (1820). This is an incomplete list of burgomasters and uses the spelling in Meister's book, which is preserved in the Hamburg state library. After 1820 the list were added by hand. On 6 August 1806 Hamburg gained sovereignty as an independent country. From 1811 to 1814 Hamburg was part of France in the Bouches-de-l'Elbe.
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|Johann Spreckelsen|| ||1512||
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|Nicolaus Thode|| ||1517||
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|Thidericus Hohusen|| ||1517||
|-
|unoccupied|| ||1519–1520||Second Mayor was Dietrich [Thidericus?] Hohusen (1517–1546)
<!--- :Kunhardt 1809–1815 --->
|-
|Friedrich von Graffen|| ||1815–1820||Second term
{| id class="sort wikitable" style="text-align:left"
|-
! width="275"| Name
! Took office
! Left office
! width="150"|Party
|-
| Carl Wilhelm Petersen
| 30 January 1933
| 7 March 1933
| German People’s Party
|-
| Carl Vincent Krogmann<br /><small>(born 1953)</small>
| 12 November 1997
| 31 October 2001
| Alliance '90/The Greens
|-
| Ronald Schill<br /><small>(born 1958)</small>
| 31 October 2001
| 19 August 2003
| Party for a Rule of Law Offensive
|-
| Mario Mettbach<br /><small>(1952–2022)</small>
| 21 August 2003
| 17 March 2004
| Party for a Rule of Law Offensive
|-
| Birgit Schnieber-Jastram<br /><small>(born 1946)</small>
| 17 March 2004
| 7 May 2008
| Christian Democratic Union
|-
| Christa Goetsch<br /><small>(born 1952)</small>
| 7 May 2008
| 29 November 2010
| Alliance '90/The Greens
|-
| Dietrich Wersich<br /><small>(born 1964)</small>
| 30 November 2010
| 7 March 2011
| Christian Democratic Union
|-
| Dorothee Stapelfeldt<br /><small>(born 1956)</small>
| 7 March 2011
| 15 April 2015
| Social Democratic Party
|-
| Katharina Fegebank<br /><small>(born 1977)</small>
| 15 April 2015
| Incumbent
| Alliance '90/The Greens
|-
|}
Notes and references
;General
- (1293–1977) (Note: not included in the 2nd edition.)