The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is the head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and is thus responsible for enforcing the nation's Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, as well as numerous other environmental statutes. The administrator is nominated by the president of the United States and must be confirmed by a vote of the Senate.

On March 10, 2021, Michael S. Regan was confirmed by a vote 66 to 34 as the administrator of the EPA, the first Black man to serve in this role.^[1]

Since the Clinton administration, the EPA administrator has been accorded cabinet rank by the president. The administrator of the EPA is equivalent to the position of Minister of the Environment in other countries. There have been various proposals to make the EPA a full executive department.

• Robert W. Fri June 14, 1971 – April 29, 1973
• John R. Quarles Jr. April 29, 1973 – January 20, 1977
• Barbara Blum March 7, 1977 – January 20, 1981
• John W. Hernandez Jr. May 20, 1981 – March 25, 1983
• Alvin L. Alm August 5, 1983 – May 9, 1985
• A. James Barnes May 10, 1985 – August 14, 1988
• John A. Moore (Acting) August 15, 1988 – January 20, 1989
  (Acting) February 5, 1989 – May 18, 1989
• F. Henry Habicht II May 19, 1989 – January 20, 1993
• Jonathan Z. Cannon (Acting) March 8, 1993 – May 9, 1993
• Robert M. Sussman May 10, 1993 – October 17, 1994
• Fred Hansen October 18, 1994 – September 30, 1998
• Peter D. Robertson (Acting) October 1, 1998 – December 7, 1999
• W. Michael McCabe (Acting) December 8, 1999 – August 5, 2000
  August 6, 2000 – January 19, 2001
• Linda Fisher May 31, 2001 – June 27, 2003
• Stephen L. Johnson (Acting) July 12, 2003 – August 1, 2004
  August 2, 2004 – January 26, 2005
• Marcus Peacock August 8, 2005 – January 20, 2009
• Scott Fulton February 4, 2009 – December 24, 2009
• Bob Perciasepe December 24, 2009 – August 8, 2014
• Lisa Feldt (Acting) August 8, 2014 – October 7, 2014
• Stan Meiburg (Acting) October 7, 2014 – January 20, 2017
• Mike Flynn January 20, 2017 – April 3, 2018
• Andrew R. Wheeler April 20, 2018 – February 28, 2019
• Henry Darwin July 9, 2018 – September 2019
• Janet McCabe April 29, 2021 – Present

Acting administrators usually assume the office in the interim period between the resignation of a previous administrator and the confirmation of his or her successor, including during the transition period between two presidential administrations, before the successor has been nominated and confirmed. Acting administrators come from within the EPA and usually hold an office that is subject to Senate confirmation before becoming the acting administrator. Linda Fisher and Stephen L. Johnson had served as Deputy Administrator when they became acting administrator. Marianne Lamont Horinko was an assistant administrator at the time. They are not subject to Senate confirmation to serve as the acting administrator, though to continue to serve as a full-fledged administrator (as in the case of Lee M. Thomas or Stephen L. Johnson), they must be confirmed by the Senate.

The line of succession for the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is as follows:^[4]

1. Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
2. General Counsel
3. Assistant Administrator for the Office of Land and Emergency Management
4. Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention
5. Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation
6. Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water
7. Assistant Administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
8. Chief Financial Officer
9. Assistant Administrator for the Office of Research and Development
10. Assistant Administrator for the Office of International and Tribal Affairs
11. Assistant Administrator for the Office of Administration and Resources Management
12. Assistant Administrator for the Office of Environmental Information
13. Regional Administrator, Region 7 (Kansas City, Kansas)
14. Principal Deputy General Counsel
15. Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
16. Deputy Regional Administrator, Region 2 (New York, New York)
17. Deputy Regional Administrator, Region 5 (Chicago, Illinois)

• White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy
• Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry