County (United States)

County
CategorySecond-level administrative division
LocationStates, federal district and territories of the United States of America
Found inState
Number3,244 (including county equivalents in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, and the 100 county equivalents in the U.S. territories)
PopulationsGreatest: Los Angeles County, California—10,014,009 (2020)
Least: Loving County, Texas-64
8 entities[a] (county equivalents)—0 (2020)
Average: 104,435 (2019)
Median: Nicholas County, West Virginia—25,965 (2019)
AreasLargest: San Bernardino County, California—20,057 sq mi (51,950 km2)
Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska (county equivalent)—145,505 sq mi (376,860 km2)
Smallest: Kalawao County, Hawaii—12 sq mi (31 km2)
Falls Church, Virginia (county equivalent)—2 sq mi (5.2 km2)
Smallest (including territories): Kingman Reef (county equivalent)—0.01 sq mi (0.026 km2)[1][2]
Average: 1,208 sq mi (3,130 km2)
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In the United States, a county or county equivalent is an administrative or political subdivision of a U.S. state or other territories of the United States which consists of a geographic area with specific boundaries and usually some level of governmental authority.[3] The term "county" is used in 48 states, while Louisiana and Alaska have functionally equivalent subdivisions called parishes and boroughs, respectively.[3] Counties and other local governments exist as a matter of U.S. state law, so the specific governmental powers of counties may vary widely between the states, with many providing some level of services to civil townships, municipalities, and unincorporated areas. Certain municipalities are in multiple counties; New York City is uniquely partitioned into five counties, referred to at the city government level as boroughs. Some municipalities have been consolidated with their county government to form consolidated city-counties, or have been legally separated from counties altogether to form independent cities. Conversely, counties in Connecticut and Rhode Island, eight of Massachusetts's 14 counties, and Alaska's Unorganized Borough have no government power, existing only as geographic distinctions.

The United States Census Bureau uses the term "county equivalent" to describe places that are comparable to counties, but called by different names. Louisiana parishes, the organized boroughs of Alaska, independent cities, and the District of Columbia are equivalent to counties for administrative purposes. Alaska's Unorganized Borough is further divided into 11 census areas that are statistically equivalent to counties. In 2024, the U.S. Census Bureau began to also count Connecticut's Councils of Governments, which took over some of the regional powers from the state's former county governments, as county equivalents.

Territories of the United States do not have counties; instead, the United States Census Bureau also divides them into county equivalents. The U.S. Census Bureau counts American Samoa's districts and atolls as county equivalents.[4][5] American Samoa locally has places called "counties", but these entities are considered to be "minor civil divisions" (not true counties) by the U.S. Census Bureau.[5]

The number of counties per state ranges from the three counties of Delaware to the 254 counties of Texas. County populations also vary widely: in 2017, according to the Census Bureau, more than half the U.S. population was concentrated in just 143 of the more than 3,000 counties, or just 4.6% of all counties; the five most populous counties, ordered from most to least, are Los Angeles County, California; Cook County, Illinois; Harris County, Texas; Maricopa County, Arizona; and San Diego County, California.[6]

As of 2022, there are 3,144 counties and county-equivalents in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.[7] If the 100 county equivalents in the U.S. territories are counted, then the total is 3,244 counties and county-equivalents in the United States.[8][9][4][5][b]


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kingman Reef was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference USMOICounties was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b "An Overview of County Government". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on April 17, 2013. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  4. ^ a b "2010 FIPS Codes for Counties and County Equivalent Entities". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
  5. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference CensusCounties2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ El Nasser, Haya (October 24, 2017). "Big and Small America". The United States Census Bureau. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  7. ^ "County Totals Datasets: Population, Population Change and Estimated Components of Population Change: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2012". 2012 Population Estimates. United States Census Bureau, Population Division. March 2013. Archived from the original on July 7, 2013. Retrieved April 30, 2013.
  8. ^ "2010 Census Geographic Entity Tallies by State and Type". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on July 17, 2015.
  9. ^ "Substantial Changes to Counties and County Equivalent Entities: 1970–Present". United States Census Bureau.
  10. ^ United States Census Bureau (June 6, 2022). "Change to County-Equivalents in the State of Connecticut". Federal Register. Retrieved January 4, 2024.