This research gives a ground-breaking approach to study the professionalization of the political executive mandate of three Swiss cities (Zurich, Lausanne, Lucerne) from the end of the 19th century until today. The core of this research aims less to understand if an urban politician should make a living off local politics, but more of who can do that. We will try to find out when it became possible to earn a living in a city executive mandate, and whether it gave rise to debates in the legislative councils who voted these remunerations. The Swiss case, which has not received significant attention in the literature, is particularly interesting because the increasing wages and the full-time duty are implemented at an early stage in the executives of the cities, despite the political culture that was formerly based on the idea that elective offices should be voluntary and unpaid activities. Therefore, the aim of our research is to ascertain which social profile the function should attract. Moreover, this article shows that the development of professionalization implies a process of convergence of the political wage and a reduction of the salary gap between the executive members and the qualified workers in a context of suspicion toward the politicians that were accused of being overpaid. The full-time duty, the salary gap, and the political definition of what the tasks of an urban politician are, contribute to attract managers from the upper middle class in the executives of the cities.