The career paths of the chief administrative officers of U.S. cities: a survey of city managers and content analysis of how they discuss their careers

We expand the research on the career paths of the chief administrative officers managing cities of all sizes in the United States (U.S.) by surveying the chief administrative officers working in the small, medium, and large cities throughout the U.S. We collected 345 surveys from chief administrative officers. The survey included questions on the career paths of managers and asked respondents to discuss factors and challenges that have influenced their career paths. From our analysis, we find that the career path to city management positions often begins with prior experience in local government administration and higher educational attainment, such as an MPA degree. The surveyed managers appear to be working longer in the same cities and they identify technical aspects of their jobs as being more challenging than political conflict and relations with the public.