page_title: Montgomery County, Maryland
section_title: Government
hierarchical_section_title: Montgomery County, Maryland / Government
caption_attribution_description: Montgomery County courthouse in Rockville, Maryland. Photo taken by Kmf164 on January 7, 2006.
context_page_description: Montgomery County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland, located adjacent to Washington, D.C. As of the 2010 census, the county's population was 971,777, increasing by 8.1% to an estimated 1,050,688 in 2019. The county seat and largest municipality is Rockville, although the census-designated place of Germantown is the most populous city within the county. Montgomery County is included in the Washington–Arlington–Alexandria, DC–VA–MD–WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in turn forms part of the Baltimore–Washington Combined Statistical Area. Most of the county's residents live in unincorporated locales, of which the most urban are Silver Spring and Bethesda, although the incorporated cities of Rockville and Gaithersburg are also large population centers, as are many smaller but significant places.
  As one of the most affluent counties in the United States, Montgomery County also has the highest percentage of residents over 25 years of age who hold post-graduate degrees. The county has been ranked as one of the wealthiest in the United States.
context_section_description: Montgomery County was granted a charter form of government in 1948.
  The present County Executive/County Council form of government of Montgomery County dates to November 1968 when the voters changed the form of government from a County Commission/County Manager system, as provided in the original 1948 home rule Charter.
  The Montgomery County Police Department provides county-wide law enforcement services, although several cities including Rockville and Gaithersburg maintain their own police departments to complement MCPD.  Maryland State Police patrol Interstate highways 495 (the "Beltway") and 270 and assist county and city police in investigation of some major crimes.
caption: The former Montgomery County Courthouse in Rockville, Maryland, in January 2006, which served as the county courthouse from 1931 to 1982. The building now houses a state district court after the county court was moved to the Montgomery County Judicial Center.
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