Municipalities of the Valencian Community
The Valencian Community is made up of a total of 542 municipalities, whose physical space covers an area of 23,255 km² and a total of 5,210,600 inhabitants. These municipalities are administratively distributed in the provinces of Alicante, Castellón and Valencia.
Each municipality is run by a council elected by the residents at periodic nationwide local elections. The council consists of a number of members depending on population, who elect the mayor. The city or town hall is located in the main settlement, and deals with provision of local services and administrative matters such as registration of residents. The "main settlement" is not always the biggest settlement, as new urban developments such as tourist resorts can become very big very quickly without achieving any political recognition.
The municipalities of the Valencian Community are grouped into 34 comarques and three provinces. Occasional revisions of the boundaries of comarcas have resulted in municipalities moving from one comarca to another.