  The charge state of an ion provides a simplified electronic picture of the
bonding in compounds, and heuristically explains the basic electronic structure
of a system. Despite its usefulness, the physical and chemical definition of a
charge state is not a trivial one, and the essential idea of electron transfer
is found to be not a realistic explanation. Here, we study the real-space
charge distribution of a cobalt ion in its various charge and spin states, and
examine the relation between the formal charge/spin states and the static
charge distribution. Taking the prototypical cobalt oxides, La/SrCoO$_3$, and
bulk Co metal, we confirm that no prominent static charge transfer exists for
different charge states. However, we show that small variations exist in the
integrated charges for different charge states, and these are compared to the
various spin state cases.
