Counties of Kenya


The counties of Kenya are geographical units created by the 2010 Constitution of Kenya as the new units of devolved government. They replaced the previous provincial system. The establishment and executive powers of the counties is provided in Chapter Eleven of the Constitution on devolved government, the Constitution's Fourth Schedule and any other legislation passed by the Senate of Kenya concerning counties. The counties are also single-member constituencies which elect members of the Senate, and special woman members to the National Assembly.
As of 2022, there were 47 counties whose size and boundaries were based on 1992 districts. Following the re-organization of Kenya's national administration, counties were integrated into a new national administration with the national government posting a county commissioner to each county to serve as a collaborative link with national government.

Establishment

County governments were established in all 47 counties after the general elections in March 2013. The counties' names are set out in the First Schedule of the Constitution.

List of counties

Under the new constitution, Kenya is now divided into 47 counties for administrative purposes. They are grouped below according to the former province they were separated from, with their areas and populations as of the 2009 and the 2019 census:
CodeCountyFormer
Province		Area
Population
Population
CapitalRegistered Voters
Postal Abbreviations
001 MombasaCoast212.5939,3701,208,333Mombasa641,913MSA
002 KwaleCoast8,270.3649,931866,820Kwale328,253KWL
003 KilifiCoast12,245.91,109,7351,453,787Kilifi588,602KLF
004 Tana RiverCoast35,375.8240,075315,943Hola141,096TRV
005 LamuCoast6,497.7101,539143,920Lamu81,453LMU
006 Taita–TavetaCoast17,083.9284,657340,671Mwatate181,827TVT
007 GarissaNorth Eastern45,720.2623,060841,353Garissa201,473GRS
008 WajirNorth Eastern55,840.6661,941781,263Wajir207,758WJR
009 ManderaNorth Eastern25,797.71,025,756867,457Mandera217,030MDR
010 MarsabitEastern66,923.1291,166459,785Marsabit166,912MRS
11 IsioloEastern25,336.1143,294268,002Isiolo89,504ISL
12 MeruEastern7,003.11,356,3011,545,714Meru772,139MRU
13 Tharaka-NithiEastern2,609.5365,330393,177Kathwana231,932TNT
14 EmbuEastern2,555.9516,212608,599Embu334,302EMB
15 KituiEastern24,385.11,012,7091,136,187Kitui532,758KTU
16 MachakosEastern5,952.91,098,5841,421,932Machakos687,565MCK
17 MakueniEastern8,008.9884,527987,653Wote479,401MKN
18 NyandaruaCentral3,107.7596,268638,289Ol Kalou361,165NDR
19 NyeriCentral2,361.0693,558759,164Nyeri481,632NYR
20 KirinyagaCentral1,205.4528,054610,411Kerugoya376,001KRG
21 Murang'aCentral2,325.8942,5811,056,640Murang'a620,929MRG
22 KiambuCentral2,449.21,623,2822,417,735Kiambu1,275,008KMB
23 TurkanaRift Valley98,597.81,100,3991,504,976Lodwar238,528TRK
24 West PokotRift Valley8,418.2512,690621,241Kapenguria220,026WPK
25 SamburuRift Valley20,182.5223,947310,327Maralal100,014SBR
26 Trans-NzoiaRift Valley2,469.9818,757990,341Kitale398,981TNZ
27 Uasin GishuRift Valley2,955.3894,1791,163,186Eldoret506,138UGS
28 Elgeyo-MarakwetRift Valley3,049.7369,998454,480Iten213,884EMK
29 NandiRift Valley2,884.5752,965885,711Kapsabet406,288NDI
30 BaringoRift Valley11,075.3555,561666,763Kabarnet281,053BRG
31 LaikipiaRift Valley8,696.1399,227518,560Rumuruti263,012LKP
32 NakuruRift Valley7,509.51,603,3252,162,202Nakuru1,054,856NKR
33 NarokRift Valley17,921.2850,9201,157,873Narok398,784NRK
34 KajiadoRift Valley21,292.7687,3121,117,840Kajiado463,273KJD
35 KerichoRift Valley2,454.5752,396901,777Kericho428,067KRC
36 BometRift Valley1,997.9730,129875,689Bomet376,985BMT
37 KakamegaWestern3,033.81,660,6511,867,579Kakamega844,551KKG
38 VihigaWestern531.3554,622590,013Mbale310,043VHG
39 BungomaWestern2,206.91,375,0631,670,570Bungoma646,598BGM
40 BusiaWestern1,628.4743,946893,681Busia416,756BSA
41 SiayaNyanza2,496.1842,304993,183Siaya533,595SYA
42 KisumuNyanza2,009.5968,9091,155,574Kisumu606,754KSM
43 Homa BayNyanza3,154.7963,7941,131,950Homa Bay551,071HBY
44 MigoriNyanza2,586.4917,1701,116,436Migori469,019MGR
45 KisiiNyanza1,317.91,152,2821,266,860Kisii637,010KSI
46 NyamiraNyanza912.5598,252605,576Nyamira323,283NMR
47 NairobiNairobi694.93,138,3694,397,073Nairobi2,415,310NBI
TOTAL581,309.038,610,99747,564,29622,102,532

County governments

County governments are responsible for county legislation, executive functions, functions outlined in the fourth schedule of the constitution of Kenya, functions transferred from the national government through article 187 of the constitution of Kenya, functions agreed upon with other counties under article 189 of the constitution of Kenya, and establishment and staffing of a public service. The functions of governments assigned to counties by the fourth schedule of the Constitution of Kenya are:

Agriculture