County (United States)

A county, in the United States, is a political subdivision and form of government that is right below the state.  48 out of the 50 states in the United States use counties. Louisiana calls its counties parishes while Alaska got rid of counties and only uses boroughs. Both of these are equal to the county. Connecticut has counties, but these no longer exist as statistical entities, having been replaced in 2022 by what the state calls "councils of governments". The list that the U.S. Census Bureau keeps that lists all of the counties in the United States says that there are 3,481 counties or other kinds of divisions that are equal to the county in the United States.

The midwestern and northeastern states in the United States divide the county further into townships or towns, some of which have municipalities.  The place where the county government and courts are is called the county seat (Alaska: "borough seat", Louisiana: "parish seat", Vermont: sometimes "shire town"). 

On average, a county in the United States has a population of around 100,000 people. The county that has the most people living in it is Los Angeles County, California, where over 10 million people live. The county that has the fewest people living in it is Loving County, Texas, where as of the 2020 United States Census, 64 people live.  

The average number of counties in each state is 62. Delaware has the fewest with only 3. Texas has the most counties with 254. 

 List of counties 
These pages list all of the counties in each state:
254 – Texas
159 – Georgia
120 – Kentucky
115 – Missouri
105 – Kansas
102 – Illinois
100 – North Carolina
99 – Iowa
95 – Tennessee
95 – Virginia  
93 – Nebraska
92 – Indiana
88 – Ohio
87 – Minnesota
83 – Michigan
82 – Mississippi
77 – Oklahoma
75 – Arkansas
72 – Wisconsin
67 – Pennsylvania 
67 – Florida 
67 – Alabama
66 – South Dakota
64 – Louisiana
64 – Colorado
62 – New York
58 – California
56 – Montana
55 – West Virginia
53 – North Dakota46 – South Carolina
44 – Idaho
39 – Washington
36 – Oregon
33 – New Mexico
30 – Alaska
29 – Utah
24 – Maryland
23 – Wyoming
21 – New Jersey 
17 – Nevada
16 – Maine
15 – Arizona
14 – Vermont
14 – Massachusetts
10 – New Hampshire
8 – Connecticut (see also: Councils of governments in Connecticut on the English Wikipedia)
5 – Rhode Island
5 – Hawaii
3 – Delaware

 Notes 

 References 

 Other websites 
 Geographic Areas Reference Manual by the United States Census Bureau
 National Association of Counties
 Cross-reference any State, County, City, ZIP Code in the U.S.
 U.S. County Formation Maps 1643-Present – Cumulative animated graphics.

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