County (United States)

County (United States)

In the United States, a county is a geographic subdivision of a state (or federal territory), usually assigned some governmental authority. The term "county" is used in 48 of the 50 states; Louisiana is divided into parishes and Alaska into boroughs. Parishes and boroughs are called "county-equivalents" by the U.S. federal government, as are certain independent cities which are not parts of counties. There are 3,033 organized county or county-equivalent governments in the United States according to 2007 Census of Governments.

The powers of counties arise from state law and vary widely. In some states including Connecticut and Rhode Island, counties are geographic entities, but not governmental jurisdictions. At the other extreme, Maryland counties and the county-equivalent City of Baltimore handle almost all services, including public education, although the state retains an active oversight authority with many of these services.

The average number of counties per state is 62. The state with the most counties is Texas with 254; while the state with fewest is Delaware with three. As of the 2000 Census, the average county population was about 100,000. The most populous county is Los Angeles County, California, with an estimated population of 9,880,000 (2009 Census estimate), greater than all but eight U.S. states. The least populous is Loving County, Texas, with 82 residents as of 2010.