Zohran Mamdani’s ‘low’ NYC Mayor salary debate sparks online roast - ‘free electricity, no rent’

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has piqued the Internet's interest once again, and this time, social media is discussing his pay package. A progressive state lawmaker who ran on restoring power to the working class, Mamdani will take office as New York City Mayor in January.

Mamdani will reportedly take home an annual salary of $2,58,750. Additionally, he will get to live rent-free in Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the mayor of NYC. However, some netizens believed that the wage for the NYC mayor was “surprisingly low”.

A social media user claimed that the salary was equivalent to that of an entry-level employee. “Unpopular opinion: the NYC mayor should make more than an entry level employee in big law/tech. $260k is surprisingly low,” he said.

“Spending 0.01% of the budget to increase politician salaries and disincentive corruption is good, even if the optics s**k,” the user noted in a separate post.

“They should actually raise wages and completely eliminate the ability to be paid by third parties for any other work,” said another user.

One user said, “$260K is low given the scope of responsibilities and the cost of living in NYC. I have no problem with doubling that or more with an incentive plan based on performance metrics aligned to schools, crime, etc.”

However, the observation sparked an online roast fest as the netizens pointed out the many benefits that came with the post of a mayor, including no rent and free electricity.

A netizen said, “It’s his first job, don’t get excited.” “First of all, he's never had a job so this should be an unpaid internship,” another added.

A user said, “NO - politician shouldn't even be a career choice. It is a public service - or was supposed to be.”

Several users noted that “he gets free housing during his term. It's plenty.” “Gets a nice little mansion as a perk,” said a user.

“He gets free housing, free meals, free travel, free personal security, probably 200-300, an armoured car, and any event he wants to attend free. I'm sure he will be taking trips around the world for free to make deals for NYC,” added another user.

Noting that his entire salary was basically savings, a user said, “He has to pay for very little. It would be like your company providing every bit of your life, then handing you that salary to go put in savings.”

Another user highlighted that the entry-level salary in New York City is half of what Mamdani would be getting, “which is reasonable”. “lol $260k is no entry level, $137.5k is in NYC area. He earns roughly double entry level SWE, around senior level SWE, which is reasonable,” the user said.

“He could be paid zero and still manage to be a multimillionaire as politicians seem to do,” quipped a user.

34-year-old Zohran Mamdani will become the first Muslim mayor of New York City, as well as its youngest in a century.