County (United States)

A county of the United States of America 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, "borough". Including those, there are 3086 counties in the United States, on average 62 per state. The state with the fewest counties is Delaware with three, and the state with the most is Texas with 254.

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:
  • Anchorage, Alaska
  • Baltimore, Maryland
  • Carson City, Nevada
  • St. Louis, Missouri
  • 39 cities in Virginia, where any municipality incorporated as a city (in contrast to towns) is by law severed from any county that might otherwise have contained it.
• 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.

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 goverments. 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. This is the case with Miami and Miami-Dade County.
• 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 Michigan and Georgia, a city may annex land from 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. The city may petition to change the county boundaries to accord with the city boundaries in Michigan, but not necessarily in Georgia. Since 1909, Atlanta has been in two counties.

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.

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).

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.

County name etymologies

Please add county name etymologies for any state that interests you!

• List of Arizona county name etymologies
• List of California county name etymologies
• List of Kansas county name etymologies

See also

• County (for other countries)
• County statistics of the United States
• List of extinct U.S. counties
• Political divisions of the United States
• List of counties in alphabetical order

External links

• National Association of Counties
• County Government: Management and Services
• Counties in the United States
• Ranking Tables for Counties