| Country: | Sydney |
| Election Date: | 4 December 1948 |
| Previous Election: | 1944 Sydney City Council election |
| Previous Year: | 1944 |
| Next Election: | 1950 Sydney City Council election |
| Next Year: | 1950 |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Turnout: | 75%[1] |
| Leaders Seat1: | Phillip Ward |
| Party1: | Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch) |
| Last Election1: | 8 seats |
| Seats Before1: | 7 |
| Seats1: | 19 seats |
| Seat Change1: | 12 |
| Leader2: | Reg Bartley |
| Leaders Seat2: | Gipps Ward |
| Colour2: | 00A2FF |
| Last Election2: | 12 seats |
| Seats Before2: | 11 |
| Seats2: | 9 seats |
| Seat Change2: | 2 |
| Leader3: | Horace Foley |
| Leaders Seat3: | Phillip Ward (lost seat) |
| Color3: | D6806B |
| Last Election3: | 0 seats |
| Seats Before3: | 1 |
| Seats3: | 2 seats |
| Seat Change3: | 1 |
The 1948 Sydney City Council election was held on 4 December 1948 to elect councillors to the City of Sydney, a local government area of New South Wales, Australia.[2]
Labor won a majority on council for the first time in 21 years, defeating the Civic Reform Association.[3]
Although scheduled to be held as part of the statewide local elections in 1947, the election was delayed by a year.[4]
In 1947, the state Labor government expanded the boundaries of the City of Sydney to include the following municipalities:[1]
This saw the number of councillors increase from 20 to 30. The existing five four-member wards − Fitzroy, Flinders, Gipps, Macquarie and Phillip − were unchanged, while another four were created:[1]
This was also the first Sydney City Council election to use first-past-the-post, replacing preferential voting. The change only lasted several years.[5]
Civic Reform campaigned against Labor on a message of "keeping local government in Sydney free of politics".[6]
114 candidates contested the election, with seven different groups endorsing candidates:[7] [8] [9]