According to the 2012 census, there are 89,004 local governments in the United States.<\/p>\n
The majority of states have at least two tiers of local government: counties and municipalities.<\/p>\n
There are exceptions to this rule, of course:<\/strong><\/p>\n At the highest level of local government is the county.<\/p>\n Forty-eight states have counties, and the majority of them have governmental authority.<\/p>\n This is except for a few states in New England.<\/p>\n Rhode Island and Connecticut have eradicated the governmental functions of counties.<\/p>\n Massachusetts has removed most functions from 8 of its 14 counties.<\/p>\n Most counties have subdivisions, including municipalities, townships, or unincorporated areas.<\/p>\n Other counties function as a city and county in one.<\/p>\n There are currently 3,142 counties or county equivalents in the United States.<\/p>\n The state with the least amount of counties is Delaware, with 3, and the state with the most is Texas, with 254.<\/p>\n The county with the largest population is Los Angeles County, and the county with the largest land area is San Bernardino County.<\/p>\n Most counties have city zoning<\/a> laws, but some, like Houston, don’t.<\/p>\n The borough is a county equivalent local government found in the state of Alaska.<\/p>\n The state of Alaska is divided into 19 “organized boroughs” and one “unorganized borough.”<\/p>\n Most of the populated areas in Alaska exist in the 19 organized boroughs, while the rest of Alaska exists in the unorganized borough.<\/p>\n Alaska’s boroughs function similarly to counties in other states.<\/p>\n Like Alaska with its boroughs, Louisiana has Parishes.<\/p>\n These parishes function similarly to counties in other states.<\/p>\n The state of Louisiana is divided into 64 parishes.<\/p>\n Forty-one of these parishes are governed by a council called the Police Jury<\/a>, and the other 23 have other various forms of government.<\/p>\n There are technically two terms when it comes to boundaries in the United States, civil and survey townships.<\/p>\n The township that functions as a local government is a civil township.<\/p>\n The other is a unit of land measure that a civil township is often based on.<\/p>\n A civil township is a type of local government that is in a grey area between counties and municipalities.<\/p>\n In many states, townships operate under similar laws as a county does.<\/p>\n In other states, they operate as municipalities, similar to that a city, village, town, or borough.<\/p>\n There are currently 20 states with civil townships, and most are in rural areas.<\/p>\n A city is most likely the first thing you think of when it comes to describing the place you live.<\/p>\n A city in the United States is a municipality and is usually the largest of the bunch.<\/p>\n Consider the types of municipalities as a pyramid based on population; the city is at the bottom.<\/p>\n Cities are municipalities.<\/p>\n This means that they are incorporated and have powers of self-government or jurisdiction.<\/p>\n In most states, cities and counties exist side by side, but in some states, they can exist independently or together.<\/p>\n Cities that exist outside of the territory of a county are called independent cities.<\/p>\n There are 41 independent cities, 38 of which are in Virginia.<\/p>\n The other three are Baltimore, Maryland; St. Louis, Missouri; and Carson City, Nevada.<\/p>\n Cities that exist together with a county are called consolidated city-counties.<\/p>\n Consolidated city-counties function as one unified jurisdiction.<\/p>\n They have the powers and responsibilities of both a county and a municipality.<\/p>\n In the United States alone, there are around 300 cities with a population of 100,000 or more.<\/p>\n There are ten cities with a population of 1,000,000 or more, and New York is the largest, with approximately 8,500,000 people.<\/p>\n The definition of a city is pretty clear, but when it comes to towns, it’s a little more unclear.<\/p>\n The word “town” can have different meanings in different states.<\/p>\n In some states, a town is an incorporated municipality that is smaller than a city but larger than a village.<\/p>\n In other states, a town is just an unincorporated area that is part of a larger county.<\/p>\n Sometimes towns can be incorporated but have less than the population threshold set by the state.<\/p>\n Other times, the population of a town is much more.<\/p>\n Some states use the word town to refer to any populated place, while some other states don’t even use the word at all.<\/p>\n This is where the confusion lies when questioning the difference between a city and a town.<\/p>\n A borough is another term like “town” that can have many meanings when it comes to local government.<\/p>\n Alaska uses the term borough as the equivalent of a county instead of a municipality.<\/p>\n In Connecticut, the term borough is an incorporated municipality within a town.<\/p>\n In New Jersey, a borough is an independent incorporated municipality.<\/p>\n New York City uses boroughs to divide the greater city into five areas, each in a separate county.<\/p>\n Pennsylvania uses the term borough as an equivalent to a town.<\/p>\n Like a town and borough, the term “village” can vary from state to state.<\/p>\n Most of the time, you will either see a village as an incorporated municipality of its own or as a special district<\/a>.<\/p>\n Villages can also have the informal meaning of a small human settlement.<\/p>\n They may also refer to small unincorporated areas in larger cities or towns.<\/p>\n Last but not least is the hamlet.<\/p>\n In the United States, hamlets only exist in three states, New York, Oregon, and Mississippi.<\/p>\n In New York, hamlets are unincorporated settlements within a larger town. They aren’t legal entities and don’t have a government or official boundary.<\/p>\n In Oregon, a hamlet is a local government for small communities that allows them to organize community activities. They don’t provide services like utilities and fire departments, and they don’t have taxes or fees.<\/p>\n In Mississippi, a hamlet is referred to as a “municipal historical hamlet.” This term applies to a municipality of fewer than 600 people that lost its charter before 1945.<\/p>\n One of the major differences between all the different local governments is size.<\/p>\n With that being said, there is a lot of confusion about what defines each local government.<\/p>\n This is because many of the terms are used in many different situations.<\/p>\n At the highest level (Regarding population) are the county and county equivalents.<\/p>\n These include counties, boroughs (Alaska), and parishes (Louisiana).<\/p>\n Next comes civil townships. These are in-between counties and municipalities.<\/p>\n Counties are divided into civil townships, and only 20 states have them.<\/p>\n Next comes the municipalities.<\/p>\n These include cities, towns, villages, and in some states, hamlets.<\/p>\n Because this is the question I hear the most, I will compare the difference between a town and a city.<\/p>\n Cities and towns are often considered to be the same thing, but they are not.<\/p>\n Remember that the following info varies based on each case since there is no set definition for either.<\/p>\n A city is a municipality, and usually the largest of them.<\/p>\n That means that it is incorporated and has powers of self-government or jurisdiction.<\/p>\n A city is always a city, but depending on your state, the word “town” can have many meanings.<\/p>\n A town can be an incorporated municipality like a city, but it could also be an unincorporated area like a community or neighborhood.<\/p>\n Towns could be part of a larger city or just a reference to any populated place.<\/p>\n With that being said, if you want to compare a town (municipality) and a city, the main difference is regarding the size.<\/p>\n Cities are almost always larger than towns. There are exceptions<\/a>, but they are few and far between.<\/p>\n Cities often have a much larger variety of ethnicities when compared to towns.<\/p>\n They also have a wider range of different religions, races, and languages.<\/p>\n Cities often have a much higher population density and larger area than towns do.<\/p>\n On the other hand, towns may be similar to cities, but in smaller sizes.<\/p>\n They tend to be less populated with less diversity.<\/p>\n They also usually cover a smaller area than cities.<\/p>\n With a larger population comes a larger economy.<\/p>\n Cities tend to have bigger economies with a greater labor force and purchasing power.<\/p>\n Therefore, larger corporations and entities prefer to establish themselves in cities.<\/p>\n\n
Which is which?<\/h2>\n
County<\/h3>\n
Borough (County Equivalent)<\/h3>\n
Parish<\/h3>\n
Township<\/h3>\n
![\"Township](\"https:\/\/zoningpoint.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Township.jpg\")
<\/p>\nCity<\/h3>\n
![\"Statistic:](\"http:\/\/www.statista.com\/graphic\/1\/241695\/number-of-us-cities-towns-villages-by-population-size.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nTown<\/h3>\n
Borough (Municipality)<\/h3>\n
Village<\/h3>\n
Hamlet<\/h3>\n
So what’s the big difference, then?<\/h2>\n
The Difference Between a Town and a City<\/h2>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/zoningpoint.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/New-York-City.jpg\")
<\/p>\nDemographics and Geography<\/h3>\n
Economy<\/h3>\n