County (United States)
A county of the United States is a local level of government smaller than a state but (generally) larger than a city or town, in a U.S. state or territory. The actual term "county" describes them in 48 of the 50 states; Louisiana uses the term "parish" and Alaska uses the word "borough." Including those, there are 3,086 counties in the United States, an average of 62 counties per state. The state with the fewest counties is Delaware (three), and the state with the most is Texas (254). In many states, counties are subdivided into townships or towns.
Terminology
The term county equivalents includes in addition three types of units outside that definition:
- Alaska census areas: These are areas, defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes, which have no corresponding governmental unit. (In the late 20th century, the totality of these census areas was the "unorganized borough".) Most of the land area of Alaska is divided into these 11 census areas.
- Independent cities: These are cities that legally belong to no county in a state. As of 2004, there are 43 such cities in the United States:
- the District of Columbia, a federal district governed both by laws of the U.S. Congress specific to it, and by the Washington city government, whose territory is identical to that of the district.
When the District of Columbia, independent cities, and Alaska census areas are added to the list of counties, the United States has 3141 county equivalents.
City-county exceptions
As noted, the territory of most counties includes that of municipalities, within and smaller than the respective counties. There are three kinds of exceptions: As noted, the territory of most counties includes that of municipalities, within and smaller than the respective counties. There are three kinds of exceptions:
- By a series of annexations or other mergers, a city government may come to have exactly the same territory as the county that contains it, even though they remain separate governments. This is nearly the case in Jacksonville, Florida, which has incorporated all of Duval County except for four smaller suburban cities.
- Several cities and counties around the country have unified their governments; these consolidated city-county governments are considered both a city and a county under state law. Prominent examples include Denver, Colorado and San Francisco, California.
- The area now forming the five boroughs of New York City consisted, into the late 19th century, of four typical counties and part of a fifth, each containing at least one city or town. These are still counties in name and in state law; nevertheless, since 1898 they have been entirely contained within the boundaries of the city, and following the creation of Bronx County in 1914, each borough now corresponds exactly to one county.
- In several states, (including Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Texas) a city may annex land within an adjacent county. That land is then subject to city government, but the respective counties continue to provide county-specific services and residents vote for county officials in the respective counties.
- In Michigan, the city may petition to change the county boundaries to accord with the city boundaries. Historically, however, this has rarely been exercised. There are many cities that span county boundaries in Michigan.
Statistics
Main article: County statistics of the United States
By area, the largest county (or county-equivalent) in the United States is North Slope Borough, Alaska at 94,763 square miles and the smallest county (or county-equivalent) in the United States is Kalawao County, Hawaii at 13 square miles.
The most populous county (or county-equivalent) is Los Angeles County, California with 9,519,338 people as of 2000, and the least populous county is Loving County, Texas with 67 people as of 2000.
Scope of power
The power of county governments varies widely from state to state, as does the relationship between counties and incorporated cities.
- In contrast to other counties of New York state, the powers of the five boroughs of New York City are very limited, and in nearly all respects subordinate to the city's.
- In New England, counties function at most as judicial court districts (in Connecticut and Rhode Island, they have lost even those functions) and most government power below the state level is in the hands of towns and cities.
- In Hawaii, the county is the municipal level of government; there are no incorporated cities other than the consolidated City & County of Honolulu.
Lists of counties by state
Number of counties per state
Southern and Midwestern states generally tend to have more counties than Western or Northern states. The list below also includes county-equivalents.
- 254 - TX
- 159 - GA
- 134 - VA
- 120 - KY
- 115 - MO
- 105 - KS
- 102 - IL
- 100 - NC
- 99 - IA
- 95 - TN
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- 93 - NE
- 92 - IN
- 88 - OH
- 87 - MN
- 83 - MI
- 82 - MS
- 77 - OK
- 75 - AR
- 72 - WI
- 67 - PA
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- 67 - FL
- 67 - AL
- 66 - SD
- 64 - LA
- 64 - CO
- 62 - NY
- 58 - CA
- 56 - MT
- 55 - WV
- 53 - ND
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- 46 - SC
- 44 - ID
- 39 - WA
- 36 - OR
- 33 - NM
- 29 - UT
- 27 - AK
- 24 - MD
- 23 - WY
- 21 - NJ
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- 17 - NV
- 16 - ME
- 15 - AZ
- 14 - VT
- 14 - MA
- 10 - NH
- 8 - CT
- 5 - HI
- 5 - RI
- 3 - DE
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County name etymologies
Main article: Lists of U.S. county name etymologies
Many states have counties named after U.S. presidents such as Washington, Madison, Polk, Jefferson, etc. Counties are also commonly named after famous individuals, local Native American tribes once in the area, cities located within the county, and land or water features (Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, meaning "Fat Hill" in Spanish, and Lake County, Illinois, on Lake Michigan). Please add county name etymologies for any state that interests you!
See also
