About Counties
Overview
There are 3,068 counties in the United States. Counties vary greatly in size and population. They range in area from 26 square miles (Arlington County, Va.) to 87,860 square miles (North Slope Borough, Alaska). The population of counties varies from Loving County, Texas, with 140 residents to Los Angeles County, California, which is home to 9.2 million people.
Forty-eight of the 50 states have operational county governments. Connecticut and Rhode Island are divided into geographic regions called counties, but they do not have functioning governments. Alaska calls its counties boroughs and Louisiana calls them parishes.
This is the kind of research information that NACo maintains as part of its mission to improve public understanding of counties. NACo collects, researches, publishes and disseminates a variety of different information for, on and about counties.
NACo maintains a comprehensive database of information on counties, including a listing of county officials. NACo offers a database of county policies, code, ordinances and model programs that can be used as examples for other counties.
Counties and Elections
The election process begins and ends at the county level. County governments are empowered by state law to handle all local, state and national elections. County governments register new voters, institute primary elections, publicize Election Day procedures, mail election information to voters, select voting devices, establish polling sites and as the nation is learning, certify voting accuracy.
For more information, please contact Tom Goodman.
Related Documents
County Government in America; A Look at the history, the present and the future (PDF File)
Capitol Impact
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About Counties
