County (Pennsylvania)

Local government in Pennsylvania is government below the state level in Pennsylvania. There are six types of local governments listed in the Pennsylvania Constitution: county, township, borough, town, city, and school district. All of Pennsylvania is included in one of the state's 67 counties, which are in total subdivided into 2,561 municipalities. There are currently no independent cities or unincorporated territories within Pennsylvania.

Local municipalities can be governed by statutes, enacted by the Pennsylvania General Assembly, specific to the type and class of municipality; by a home rule municipality, under a home rule charter, adopted by the municipality; or by an optional form of government, adopted by the municipality. The township is the basic population center or town element in Pennsylvania, ranging in size from small hamlets to small towns. These are given class I or Class II powers, attributes, and responsibilities, and generally constitute the majority of communities in Pennsylvania —those characterized by low population densities occurring over a widespread geographic region within which a few small clusters of housing and mixed main road businesses occur. Excepting the larger territorial area, these townships would be considered hamlets and villages in Europe.

Larger, more densely populated municipal entities, usually ones with a well defined business district and recognizable as having the traditional attributes of a 'town' is the Pennsylvania borough. There is a single (for historic reasons) town in Pennsylvania, so the next step up is the city. Both counties and School Districts general span multiples of communities, including groups of municipalities that sometimes cross county lines. Each other subdivision is subordinate to county governmental functions, which include administration of courts, jails, code enforcement, and land registration.

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