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System of state administration on a local level in Wales

Local government in Wales is primarily undertaken by the twenty two principal councils. The councils are unitary authorities, meaning they are responsible for providing local government services within their principal area, including education, social work, environmental protection, and most highway maintenance. The principal areas are divided into communities, most of which have an elected community council. The services provided by community councils vary, but they will typically maintain public spaces and facilities. Local councils in Wales are elected; the most recent local elections in Wales took place in 2022, and the next are due to take place in 2027.

Local government is generally supervised by the (devolved) Welsh Ministers, who allocate funding of the majority of local government yearly revenue and capital settlements. The Government of Wales Act 2006 gave the Welsh Ministers the responsibility of setting up a scheme on how they are to propose and exercise their functions for the promotion and sustainability of Welsh local government.

Trunk road agents are partnerships between two or more local authorities for the purposes of managing, maintaining, and improving the network of trunk roads (including any motorways) in their respective areas. Each trunk road agent can employ Welsh Government traffic officers. There are two agents, covering North and Mid Wales and South Wales.

The Partnership Council for Wales (PCfW), (Cyngor Partneriaeth Cymru), was established under the Government of Wales Act 2006 (section 72) and encourages co operation between the Welsh Government and local governments. The council's membership includes Welsh Government cabinet members, such as the first minister, and local government leaders, such as the leaders of principal, community, and town councils, and other public service representatives. Their meetings have representatives from organisations such as Wales TUC, Wales Council for Voluntary Action and other partners, as observers, like the Auditor General for Wales. The PCfW is responsible to encourage collaboration and dialogue on local government matters, and provide collective political accountability than can improve the outcomes for citizens. The Commission reported on 20 January 2014. It recommended that the number of councils be reduced, through mergers rather than through boundary changes, from 22 to 10, 11 or 12; and suggested that the cost of merging the councils would be met through savings made within about two years. Carwyn Jones, first minister of Wales, stated that the report "addresses many [of the] issues [ ] [as] the need for public services is outstripping the resources available to provide them", and that he's "always been clear that the status quo is not an option" and that change is essential and has to be done "so that our public services can become more efficient, effective, accessible and responsive". The draft bill contained two proposals, one for eight local authorities and one for nine local authorities. The difference between the two proposals is related to North Wales (two or three local authorities). The bill did not propose names for the local authorities, only listing them by number as a combination of existing principal areas. Powys was not affected by either proposal. The changes were planned to take effect in April 2020.

Following the 2016 assembly elections, Carwyn Jones, first minister of Wales, announced that the proposals for local government reform would be taken "back to the drawing board" and that a new consensus on how to reform local government in Wales would be sought. The merger plans were formally dropped in January 2017, when the Welsh Government instead began a consultation on wider reform of local governance arrangements. The number of councils are to remain as they currently are, unless two or more local authorities wish to pursue a voluntary merger.

A bill was introduced by the Welsh Government in November 2019 to reform local government in Wales. The bill contains provisions to reduce the voting age from 18 to 16 for local elections in Wales and will extend the franchise to include eligible foreign nationals. It extends the term of local councillors from four years to five years. The bill will allow local councils to decide to continue to hold elections under first past the post system or to switch to the single transferable vote system. The bill does not include provisions to restructure local councils but does contain mechanisms that can allow for two or more authorities to merge on a voluntary basis. It also creates a framework for joint regional coordination between local authorities through the formation of "Corporate Joint Committees". The bill received Royal Assent in January 2021 and four Corporate Joint Committees covering all of Wales, were established the following month by statutory instruments.

There are some mayors in Wales, however they largely do not hold a governing role.

Principal councils in Wales can consider introducing a directly elected mayor, like those in England. However, no Welsh council has introduced the role, with Ceredigion voters rejecting the idea in a 2004 referendum. For a council to adopt the model, either the public in the local authority's area must start a petition, which then must pass a threshold to trigger a local referendum, or the council announces it wishes to adopt such a system, but must call a referendum to approve such system. If such a referendum passes in favour of a directly elected mayor, then a subsequent election is held to elect such mayor, who would then create a cabinet in the council. A directly elected mayor is an additional member to the existing number of councillors usually elected in local elections.