Jan van Zanen was born in 1961 and grew up in Edam-Volendam. After attending high school he completed his law studies at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam in 1985 and at Cornell Law School in Ithaca, New York (USA). He did his military service as a reserve officer with the Royal Netherlands Air Force. He then worked in a number of functions until 1998 including as executive secretary at a national business association.

As of 1990 Van Zanen served as a member of the municipal council in Utrecht, and subsequently was appointed as the alderman for finance, economic affairs, public space and monuments in 1998. From 2003 to 2008 he was the chairman of the national People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).

Van Zanen served as mayor of Amstelveen from July 2005 to December 2013. On 1 January 2014 he was appointed the mayor of Utrecht. From June 2015 to June 2023 he was the chairperson of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG).

Since 2019 he has been the co-president of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and since 1 July 2020 he has been the mayor of The Hague.