County statistics of the United States
In 48 of the 50 states of the United States, the county is used for the level of local government immediately below the state itself. Louisiana uses parishes, and Alaska uses boroughs. In several states in New England, some or all counties within states have no governments of their own; the counties continue to exist as legal entities, however, and are used by states for some administrative functions and by the United States Census bureau for statistical analysis. There are 3,142 counties and county equivalent administrative units in total, including the District of Columbia.
There are 41 independent cities in the United States. In Virginia, any municipality that is incorporated as a city legally becomes independent of any county. Where indicated, the statistics below do not include Virginia's 38 independent cities.
In Alaska, most of the land area of the state has no county-level government. Those parts of the state are divided by the United States Census Bureau into census areas, which are not the same as boroughs. The state's largest statistical division by area is the Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, which is larger than any of the state's boroughs. Although Anchorage is called a municipality, it is considered a consolidated city and borough.
Lists of counties and county equivalents by number per political division:
These rankings include county equivalents.
The following tables exclude county equivalents. The largest counties and county equivalents are organized boroughs and the census areas of Alaska with the top two being Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area (145,504.79 sq mi or 376,855.7 km2) and North Slope Borough (88,695.41 sq mi or 229,720.1 km2). The smallest counties and county equivalents are the independent cities of Virginia with the extreme being Falls Church (2.00 sq mi or 5.2 km2).
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