Local government in the United States
Most U.S. states and territories have at least two tiers of local government: counties and municipalities. Louisiana uses the term parish and Alaska uses the term borough for what the U.S. Census Bureau terms county equivalents in those states. Civil townships or towns are used as subdivisions of a county in 20 states, mostly in the Northeast and Midwest.
Population centers may be organized into incorporated municipalities of several types, including the city, town, borough, and village. The types and nature of these municipal entities are defined by state law, and vary from state to state. In addition to these general-purpose local governments, states may also create special-purpose local governments. Depending on the state, local governments may operate under their own charters or under general law, or a state may have a mix of chartered and general-law local governments. Generally, in a state having both chartered and general-law local governments, the chartered local governments have more local autonomy and home rule. Municipalities are typically subordinate to a county government, with some exceptions. Certain cities, for example, have consolidated with their county government as consolidated city-counties. In Virginia, cities are completely independent from the county in which they would otherwise be a part. In some states, particularly in New England, towns form the primary unit of local government below the state level, in some cases eliminating the need for county government entirely. Many rural areas and even some suburban areas of many states have no municipal government below the county level.
In addition to counties and municipalities, states often create special purpose authorities, such as school districts and districts for fire protection, sanitary sewer service, public transportation, public libraries, public parks or forests, water resource management, and conservation districts. Such special purpose districts may encompass areas in multiple municipalities or counties. According to the US Census Bureau's data collected in 2012, there were 89,004 local government units in the United States. This data shows a decline from 89,476 units since the last census of local governments performed in 2007. In 2024 PoliEngine also reported that there were a total of 500,396 total elected officials in local governments in the United States, including 135,531 elected mayors and town council members, 126,958 elected township members, 58,818 elected county officers, 95,000 school board members, and 84,089 special district members. This made up a total of 96% of all elected officials in the United States.
Each of the five permanently inhabited U.S. territories is also subdivided into smaller entities. Puerto Rico has 78 municipalities, and the Northern Mariana Islands has four municipalities. Guam has 19 villages, the U.S. Virgin Islands has districts, and American Samoa has districts and unorganized atolls.
Each Indian Reservation is subdivided in various ways. For example, the Navajo Nation is subdivided into agencies and Chapter houses, while the Blackfeet Nation is subdivided into Communities.
History
When North America was colonized by Europeans from the 17th century onward, there was initially little control from governments back in Europe. Many settlements began as shareholder or stockholder business enterprises, and while the king of Britain had technical sovereignty, in most instances "full governmental authority was vested in the company itself." Settlers had to fend for themselves; compact towns sprung up based as legal corporations in what has been described as "pure democracy":Propertied men voted; in no colonies was there universal suffrage. The founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 by a group of Puritans led by John Winthrop came with the understanding that the enterprise was to be "based in the new world rather than in London." The notion of self-government became accepted in the colonies, although it was not totally free from challenges; in the 1670s, the Lords of Trade and Plantations tried to annul the Massachusetts Bay charter, but by 1691, the New England colonies had reinstalled their previous governments.
Voting was established as a precedent early on; in fact, one of the first things that Jamestown settlers did was conduct an election. Typically, voters were white males described as "property owners" aged twenty-one and older, but sometimes the restrictions were greater, and in practice, persons able to participate in elections were few. Women were prevented from voting and African Americans were excluded. The colonists never thought of themselves as subservient but rather as having a loose association with authorities in London. Representative government sprung up spontaneously in various colonies, and during the colonial years, it was recognized and ratified by later charters. But the colonial assemblies passed few bills and did not conduct much business, but dealt with a narrow range of issues, and legislative sessions lasted weeks, and most legislators could not afford to neglect work for extended periods; so wealthier people tended to predominate in local legislatures. Office holders tended to serve from a sense of duty and prestige, and not for financial benefit.
Taxes were generally based on real estate since it was fixed in place and plainly visible, its value was generally well known, and revenue could be allocated to the government unit where the property was located.
After the American Revolution, the electorate chose the governing councils in almost every American municipality, and state governments began issuing municipal charters. During the 19th century, many municipalities were granted charters by the state governments and became technically municipal corporations. Townships and county governments and city councils shared much of the responsibility for decision-making which varied from state to state. As the United States grew in size and complexity, decision-making authority for issues such as business regulation, taxation, environmental regulation moved to state governments and the national government, while local governments retained control over such matters as zoning issues, property taxes, and public parks. The concept of "zoning" originated in the U.S. during the 1920s, according to one source, in which state law gave certain townships or other local governing bodies authority to decide how land was used; a typical zoning ordinance has a map of a parcel of land attached with a statement specifying how that land can be used, how buildings can be laid out, and so forth. Zoning legitimacy was upheld by the Supreme Court in its Euclid v. Ambler decision.
Types
The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution makes local government a matter of state rather than federal law, with special cases for territories and the District of Columbia. As a result, the states have adopted a wide variety of systems of local government. The United States Census Bureau conducts the Census of Governments every five years to compile statistics on government organization, public employment, and government finances. The categories of local government established in this Census of Governments is a convenient basis for understanding local government in the United States. The categories are as follows:- County Governments
- Town or Township Governments
- Municipal Governments
- Special-Purpose Local Governments
County governments
All the states are divided into counties or county-equivalents for administrative purposes, with most, although not all counties or county-equivalents, having an organized county government. County government has been eliminated throughout Connecticut and Rhode Island, as well as in parts of Massachusetts. The Unorganized Borough in Alaska also does not operate under a county level government.
The specific governmental powers of counties vary widely between the states. In some states, mainly in New England, they are primarily used as judicial districts. In other states, counties have broad powers in housing, education, transportation and recreation. In areas lacking a county government, services are provided either by lower level townships or municipalities, or the state.
Counties may contain a number of cities, towns, villages, or hamlets. Some cities including Philadelphia, Honolulu, San Francisco, Nashville, and Denver are consolidated city-counties, where the municipality and the county have been merged into a unified, coterminous jurisdiction—that is to say, these counties consist in their entirety of a single municipality whose city government also operates as the county government. Some counties, such as Arlington County, Virginia, do not have any additional subdivisions. Some states contain independent cities that are not part of any county; although it may still function as if it was a consolidated city-county, an independent city was legally separated from any county. Some municipalities are in multiple counties; New York City is uniquely partitioned into five boroughs that are each coterminous with a county.
Town or township governments
In many states, most or all of the land area of counties is divided into townships, which may or may not be incorporated. In New York, Wisconsin and New England, county subdivisions are called towns. The U.S. Census divides counties in states not having such subdivisions into other minor civil divisions, sometimes using electoral districts.The terms "township" and "town" are closely related. The powers granted to townships or towns vary considerably from state to state. Many states grant townships some governmental powers. In others, survey townships are non-governmental. Towns in the six New England states and townships in New Jersey and Pennsylvania are included in this category by the Census Bureau, despite the fact that they are legally municipal corporations, since their structure has no necessary relation to concentration of population, which is typical of municipalities elsewhere in the United States. In particular, towns in New England have considerably more power than most townships elsewhere and often function as legally equivalent to cities, typically exercising the full range of powers that are divided between counties, townships, and cities in other states. In New England, towns are a principal form of local municipal government, providing many of the functions of counties in other states. In California, by contrast, the pertinent statutes of the Government Code clarify that "town" is simply another word for "city", especially a general law city as distinct from a charter city. In some states, large areas have no general-purpose local government below the county level.
Town or township governments are organized local governments authorized in the state constitutions and statutes of 20 Northeastern and Midwestern states, established to provide general government for a defined area, generally based on the geographic subdivision of a county.
An additional dimension that distinguishes township governments from municipalities is the historical circumstance surrounding their formation. For example, towns in New England are also defined by a tradition of local government presided over by town meetings — assemblies open to all voters to express their opinions on public policy.
The term "town" is also used for a local level of government in New York and Wisconsin. The terms "town" and "township" are used interchangeably in Minnesota.
Some townships or other incorporated areas like villages, boroughs, plantations, and hamlets have governments and political power; others are simply geographic designations. Townships in many states are generally the product of the Public Land Survey System.