Leicester City Council is the local authority for the city of Leicester, in the ceremonial county of Leicestershire, England. Leicester has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1997 the council has been a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council; it is independent from Leicestershire County Council.

The council consists of 54 councillors, overseen by a directly elected mayor. The council also appoints a ceremonial Lord Mayor who chairs council meetings; the directly elected mayor is termed the City Mayor to distinguish the post from the Lord Mayor. The council has been under Labour majority control since 2007, and the City Mayor has been Sir Peter Soulsby since 2011.

The council meets at Leicester Town Hall and has its main offices at City Hall on Charles Street.

The council traces its roots to the Corporation of Leicester, and before then to the Merchant Gild and the Portmanmoot. The Portmanmoot consisted of 24 Jurats, elected from the burgesses (members of the Gild Merchant, or freemen), along with two bailiffs, and a clerk. It appears to have existed before the Norman Conquest in 1066. In 1209, the lead member of the Portmanmoot, the Alderman, became known as a mayor. The Gild Merchant and the Moot overlapped in membership and had probably become effectively merged in the 14th century. Membership of the Twenty-Four appears to have been by co-option, chosen by themselves.

Traditionally, the general populace attended some meetings of the Moot and Guild, but this was restricted to burgesses in 1467. Later, in 1489, this changed to a system where the Mayor and the Twenty-Four chose Forty-Eight burgesses to represent the others, and the Twenty-Four and the Forty-Eight would govern jointly.

After doubts as to the ability of the Moot and Gild to hold property arose in the 16th century, the corporation was formed, replacing the Gild and Portmanmoot, in 1589. A second charter was granted in 1599, reconfirming this, to The Mayor, Bailiffs and Burgesses of the Borough of Leicester. The 24 Jurats became known as the Aldermen of the corporation, and the 48 other Burgesses as the Common Council. The members of the Corporation chose the burgesses to send to the House of Commons.

Leicester was reformed to become a municipal borough in 1836 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, which standardised how most boroughs across the country were governed. The borough was then led by a corporate body formally called the "mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Leicester", which was generally known as the corporation or town council. The previous system of co-option for members of the council was replaced with elections by rate-payers. This led to a prolonged spell of Liberal control of the council. When elected county councils were established in 1889, Leicester was considered large enough for its existing corporation to provide county-level services, and so it was made a county borough, independent from Leicestershire County Council.

In 1919 Leicester was awarded city status, after which the corporation was formally called the "mayor, aldermen and citizens of the city of Leicester", also known as the city council. In 1928 the council was given the right to appoint a Lord Mayor.