City Edition
Essex County
Newburyport, Massachusetts
Photo: openroads.com, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In the early 1960s the urban renewal plan for Newburyport called for clearing Market Square and the waterfront behind it, brick blocks and all. Residents organized against it and won: the city’s Redevelopment Authority voted in May 1969 to preserve Market Square instead, federal money followed in 1971, and the restored brick storefronts you walk past downtown are one of the first times in the country that renewal dollars went into saving a historic district rather than erasing it. That fight was won in rooms you can still walk into. This guide shows you which rooms: the Mayor who proposes the budget, the eleven councillors who vote it, the committee that runs your schools, the delegation that carries your voice to Boston and Washington, and the numbers underneath all of it.
Newburyport at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Essex. Newburyport holds 18,289 people on 8.35 square miles of land where the Merrimack River meets the Atlantic, which works out to about 2,190 people per square mile.
- Government: Mayor and City Council. Mayor Sean R. Reardon won the November 4, 2025 city election and took the oath on January 5, 2026 for a four year term.
- Schools: Newburyport Public Schools, 2,104 students across four schools, led by Superintendent Sean T. Gallagher.
How Newburyport’s Government Works
Newburyport elects its chief executive. The Mayor runs the city day to day, proposes the budget, and answers to voters directly at the next election rather than to any board. Alongside that office, voters elect an 11 member Newburyport City Council as the legislative body, which passes ordinances, sets the tax rate and votes the budget the Mayor proposes. Voters also elect six of the seven seats on the School Committee, and the Mayor holds the seventh and chairs it. The split is the point: one office proposes and runs, another votes and can say no, and you elect both.
Mayor
The elected chief executive, serving a four year term. Runs the departments, proposes the annual budget, and is accountable to voters at the ballot rather than to a board. The charter vests the executive powers of the city solely in this office.
Newburyport City Council
11 members, the legislative body. It passes ordinances, sets the tax rate, and votes the budget up or down. Five councillors are elected at large and six by ward, so one of them represents your neighborhood specifically.
School Committee
7 members. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent. Voters elect six of the seats at large, and the Mayor holds the seventh and presides as chair.
Departments
Public services, police, fire, health, the library and the rest. Department heads report up through the Mayor, which is why a service problem usually goes to a department first and to an elected official second.
- Residents elect the Mayor, the 11 members of the Newburyport City Council, and six of the seven School Committee seats.
- The Mayor proposes the budget and runs the departments that carry it out.
- The Newburyport City Council votes the budget and the ordinances, and it can vote them down.
- You take part: speak at a Newburyport City Council meeting, bring a problem to the councillor for your ward, or run for a seat yourself.
Explore the Newburyport Edition
- Mayor’s OfficeThe chief executive and what the job actually controls
- City CouncilAll eleven members, when they meet, how to reach them
- School CommitteeThe seven seats and the Superintendent
- City DepartmentsWho to call when something breaks
- Boards & CommissionsWhere volunteers decide real questions
- LegislatorsYour delegation on Beacon Hill and in Washington
- DemographicsWho lives in Newburyport, by the numbers
- Newburyport HistoryFrom a fishing parish to a city of its own
- Non-ProfitsThe organizations holding the city together
- Student DataEnrollment, graduation, and spending
Your County Officials
Two of the people with the most direct power over your life are elected countywide. The district attorney decides who gets charged with a crime, and what they get charged with. The sheriff runs the county jail. Both of them answer to the voters of Essex County, and that includes Newburyport. They appear on your ballot. Now you know what to look for.
Every county in Massachusetts elects its own, and the job is the same everywhere: the charging decisions, the jail. Look up any town in the state and see who holds these two offices there.
Your First Civic Action in Newburyport
You do not have to wait until you can vote to be heard. Here is a concrete path from a problem on your street to the people who can fix it.
- Pick the right body. Anything about a school, a course, a bus, or a teacher goes to the School Committee. Everything else, from a broken sidewalk to the tax rate, goes to the City Council.
- Find the meeting. The City Council meets in the City Council Chamber at City Hall, 60 Pleasant Street, at 7:00 pm, generally twice a month on a Monday. The School Committee meets at 6:30 PM on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month during the school year at the Senior Community Center.
- Know your councillors. Six represent a single ward and five are elected at large by every Newburyport voter. You get to contact all eleven, not only your own.
- Speak. The charter requires every regular Council meeting to include a period of public comment, and the agenda is posted ahead of the meeting on the city calendar.
- Watch it happen. Meetings are broadcast live on Newburyport Comcast Channel 9 and streamed by the Greater Newburyport Community Media Hub, which also posts the recordings.
- City Hall: 60 Pleasant Street, Newburyport, MA 01950. Main line (978) 465-4413.
- City Council and agendas: (978) 465-4407, or email CityCouncil@newburyportma.gov.
- Newburyport Public Schools: 978-465-4456, 70 Low Street.
Every Massachusetts community has a guide like this one.