page_title: New England town
section_title: Rhode Island
hierarchical_section_title: New England town / Statistics / Rhode Island
caption_attribution_description: Map of the municipalities of the U.S. state of Rhode Island, with the city of Central Falls highlighted in red.
context_page_description: The New England town, generally referred to in New England simply as a town, is the basic unit of local government and local division of state authority in each of the six New England states and without a direct counterpart in most other U.S. states. New England towns overlay the entire area of a state, similar to civil townships in other states where they exist, but they are fully functioning municipal corporations, possessing powers similar to cities in other states. New Jersey's system of equally powerful townships, boroughs, towns, and cities is the system which is most similar to that of New England. New England towns are often governed by a town meeting legislative body. The great majority of municipal corporations in New England are based on the town model; statutory forms based on the concept of a compact populated place are uncommon, though they are prevalent elsewhere in the U.S. County government in New England states is typically weak at best, and in some states nonexistent. Connecticut, for example, has no county governments, nor does Rhode Island.
context_section_description: Rhode Island contains 39 incorporated towns and cities. Eight are cities and 31 are towns. These 39 municipalities together cover the entire state; there is no unincorporated territory.
  The largest municipality in Rhode Island, by population, is the city of Providence (pop. 178,042).
  The largest that is a town and not a city is Coventry (pop. 35,014).
  The smallest that is a city and not a town is Central Falls (pop. 19,376).
  The smallest overall is the town of New Shoreham (pop. 1,051).
  The largest municipality by land area is Coventry (59 square miles (150 km²)).
  The smallest is Central Falls (1.21 square miles (3.1 km²)).
caption: Cities and towns of Rhode Island
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