Elections for Oxford City Council were held on Thursday 3 May 2012. As Oxford City Council is elected by halves, one seat in each of the 24 wards is up for election.
Overall turnout was 29.4%, down from 61.7% in 2010. However, the 2010 election was held on the same day as the general election, accounting for the unusually high turnout in that year. The lowest turnout (17.5%) was in Northfield Brook ward and the highest (42.5%) in Iffley Fields.
Note: three UKIP candidates stood in this election, compared with one in 2010 and none in 2008. The last remaining councillor for the Independent Working Class Association, in Northfield Brook ward, stood down at this election; the seat was taken by the Labour Party.
This result has the following consequences for the total number of seats on the Council after the elections:
| valign=top colspan="2" style="width: 230px" | Party | valign=top style="width: 30px" | Previous council | valign=top style="width: 30px" | Staying councillors | valign=top style="width: 30px" | Seats up for election | valign=top style="width: 30px" | Election result | valign=top style="width: 30px" | New council |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | 26 | 13 | 13 | 16 | 29 | ||||||
| Liberal Democrats | 16 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 13 | ||||||
| Green | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | ||||||
| Independent Working Class | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Total | 48 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 48 | ||||||