This chapter examines the social profile of local councillors in Europe, who constitute both the largest group of elected politicians and a cornerstone of representative democracy. Building on earlier comparative research, it updates and expands existing knowledge on councillors’ gender, age, education, profession, and local roots, while also incorporating additional countries and small municipalities. The analysis seeks to answer the central question of who occupies local councils and makes decisions for municipalities, thereby contributing to the broader debate on political recruitment and descriptive representation and paying special attention to processes of professionalisation and democratisation. The chapter relies on a weighted dataset that corrects for cross-national disparities, though some limitations arise from non-response and sample bias. Beyond providing a contemporary overview of councillors’ characteristics, the findings also serve as a foundation for subsequent analyses in this volume, where social background is employed as an explanatory factor for councillors’ behaviour, attitudes, and roles.