Counties in the USA are considered geographical subdivisions of the states in which they are part of. While the various states have differing practices, it is almost universal that counties are not considered self governing municipalities like cities, villages and towns.
One of the most complete studies of counties was researched by John H, Long and Gordon DenBoer in the "Atlas of Historical County Boundaries" The ISBN for the Illinois volume is 0-13-366402-3. These usually are hard to find, check your local reference library. If you can, visit the Newberry Library in Chicago, one of the most complete centers of contemparary knowledge in the country.
By my count there are 3143 Counties, Parishes or Independent Cities in the USA. There are a few oddities to be considered.
1)
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The District of Columbia has no county government. The District was carved from the states of Maryland and Virginia. The Virginia portion was ceded back to Virginia in the mid 1800s. Prior to this what is now Arlington VA was Arlington County of the District of Columbia. The eastern section (from Maryland) was Washington County. Some time after Arlington was given back to Virginia the Washington County structure was abolished. |
2)
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Louisiana has Parishes instead of Counties. These serve identical functions as Counties. The name derives from the French and Catholic Church influence present during its inception. |
3)
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Several states have Independent Cities; Carson City NV, St. Louis MO, Baltimore MD, 40 in Virginia are examples of these. |
4)
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Several cities have merged the County and City governments to some extent. In some of these cases there remains one or more city not included in the combined government, thus separating them from "Independent City" status. Examples include: City of Indianapolis/Marion County Indiana Kansas City/Wyandotte County Kansas Jacksonville/Duval County Florida Miami-Dade Florida The following areas have completely merged the City and County governments into a single entity: (Thanks to Dale Arnett!) City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska City and Borough of Sitka, Alaska City and Borough of Yakutat, Alaska City and County of San Francisco, California City and County of Broomfield, Colorado City and County of Denver, Colorado Athens and Clarke County, Georgia Augusta and Richmond County, Georgia Columbus and Muscogee County, Georgia City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii (The area we think of as Honolulu is actually a "census-designated place" defined by the US Census Bureau. In Hawaii, all municipal government is at the county level.) Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, Kentucky (formed in 1970 when the City of Lexington merged with Fayette County) Louisville Metro, Kentucky (official short form for Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government, formed in 2003 when the City of Louisville merged with Jefferson County. There are still numerous cities in Jefferson County that are not part of the merged government.) New Orleans and Orleans Parish, Louisiana Anaconda and Deer Lodge County, Montana Butte and Silver Bow County, Montana City and County of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Lynchburg and Moore County, Tennessee Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee |
5)
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Some states have eliminated County governments or are in the process of doing so. Massachusetts is eliminating county governments, and Delaware has done so. The County names are still used for geographic purposes, and are listed with the state. |
Clicking on the state name below will bring you to the list of counties for that state. The number of counties or equivalent is also shown.
|
State |
Number of Counties |
Notes |
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67 |
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|
27 |
15 Boroughs, 11 Geographic Census Divisions and a Municipality | |
|
15 |
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|
75 |
||
|
58 |
||
|
64 |
Includes the new Broomfield City/County | |
|
8 |
Non-Governmental Geographic divisions | |
|
3 |
||
|
1 |
||
|
67 |
||
|
159 |
||
|
5 |
Includes 1 non-governmental unit (Kalawao) | |
|
44 |
||
|
102 |
See http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilcumber/ilctybnd/ for more history on Illinois Counties | |
|
92 |
||
|
99 |
||
|
105 |
||
|
120 |
||
|
64 |
"Parishes" | |
|
16 |
||
|
24 |
Includes an Independant City | |
|
14 |
7 are Counties, 7 are Non-Governmental Geographic divisions | |
|
83 |
||
|
87 |
||
|
82 |
||
|
115 |
Includes 1 Independant City | |
|
56 |
||
|
93 |
||
|
17 |
Includes 1 Independant City | |
|
10 |
||
|
21 |
||
|
33 |
||
|
62 |
Includes 5 counties in NYC (Called Boroughs) | |
|
100 |
||
|
53 |
||
|
88 |
||
|
77 |
||
|
36 |
||
|
67 |
||
|
5 |
Non-Governmental Geographic divisions | |
|
46 |
||
|
66 |
||
|
95 |
||
|
254 |
||
|
29 |
||
|
14 |
||
|
134 |
Includes 40 Independant Cities | |
|
39 |
||
|
55 |
||
|
72 |
||
|
23 |
CANADA
Canadian Provinces do not have a standardized county system like most of the US does. Some provinces have counties similar to those in the USA, but even those are subject to change. Ontario for instance has counties, but many of them are being merged into Regional Municipalities.
For this reason I have arbitrarily decided to use Ridings as the provincial division for my purposes. Ridings are electoral districts from which Members of Parliament are elected. Since each province and territory have these, and they are consistent thru out the country, I have chosen this to be my tool for "County Hunting" in Canada.
There are 301 Ridings in Canada:
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26 |
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|
34 |
|
|
14 |
|
|
10 |
|
|
7 |
|
|
11 |
|
|
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
|
103 |
|
|
4 |
|
|
75 |
|
|
14 |
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|
1 |