Local Governments in the U.S.: A Breakdown by Number and Type

From its founding, the United States of America has been almost synonymous with the concept of limited government.Limited government describes a philosophy in which power is restricted through delegated and enumerated authorities. It is perhaps surprising, then, to find that there is a large number of governments in America: The U.S. Census of Governments estimates that there are more than 90,000 of them. As a result, some citizens could be subject to the authority of many separate government entities. This raises a practical question of how individuals can stay informed about what all these governments are doing and so keep them accountable.

In this article, we describe the census definition of a government and document how the number and types of governments in the U.S. have evolved over time. We also show the states in which the most governments are located, both in absolute and per capita terms.

What Is a Government?

The U.S. Census Bureau conducts the Census of Governments every five years. The Census Bureau classifies an entity as a government if it possesses each of the following characteristics:

• It is organized.
• It has a governmental character.
• It is substantially autonomous in the sense that it determines its own budget and is not directly controlled by a parent government.

Entities that have the power to levy property taxes, issue interest-paying debt exempt from federal taxation, and perform a function commonly viewed as governmental are considered governments.

How Many Governments Are in the U.S.?

Applying this definition, the census recognizes the federal government, the governments of the 50 U.S. states and the government of the District of Columbia as governmental units. Additionally, the census recognizes several types of local governments, including county, township and municipal governments, as well as special-purpose local governments like school districts and other special districts, such as park districts and water supply authorities.For more details, see section 1.1 of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Government Finance and Employment Classification Manual (PDF).

In the most recent Census of Governments, which was conducted in 2022, the Census Bureau counted 90,837 governments in the U.S. In addition to the federal government, the 50 state governments and the government of Washington, D.C., there were 3,031 county governments, 35,705 township and municipal governments, 12,546 independent school districts and 39,555 other special-purpose local governments.

The figure below plots the total number of local governments counted in each census since 1942. It shows that the total number of local governments in the U.S. has fallen significantly from the 155,067 counted that year. A striking decrease in the number of independent school districts—from 108,579 in 1942 to 12,546 today—drove the decline, which was partially offset by an increase in the number of other special-purpose local governments.Some changes in census definitions over time have increased the number of entities considered governments. For example, in 1962, changes in how the census defined autonomy added 1,700 special-purpose local governments to the count. The number of general-purpose local governments—i.e., county, township and municipal governments—remained relatively steady over this period.

Which U.S. States Have the Most Governments?

The number and breakdown of local governments in the U.S. vary substantially by state. The following table shows local governments by type in the five states with the most governments in 2022 and in the five states with the fewest governments.

For the most part, the states with the largest populations had the most governments, while those with the smallest populations had the least. But the relationship is far from linear: Illinois had 6,930 local governments, which was more than 1.5 times as many as California, despite having less than a third as many residents. At the other end of the spectrum, Hawaii had only 21 local governments, about one-sixth as many as Rhode Island had, despite having a larger population.

To examine the relationship between the number of governments in a state and a state’s population, the table also reports the number of local governments per 100,000 residents. For example, Illinois, which had the most local governments in 2022, had only the 14th most governments per resident. More strikingly, California ranked fourth in terms of the number of local governments, but it was 43rd when ranked by governments per resident.

The two states with the highest number of governments per capita in 2022 were North Dakota and South Dakota, which had 330 and 209 governments per 100,000 residents, respectively. They were the only two states that had more than 200 governments per 100,000 people. While North Dakota and South Dakota had relatively few local governments overall (2,570 and 1,900, respectively), their populations are much smaller compared with other states.

How states rank by number of local governments has changed over time. The 1972 Census of Governments, which used definitions of government similar to those in the 2022 census, shows that Illinois (with 6,385 local governments) and Hawaii (with 19 local governments) were still the states with the most and least governments, respectively. However, other rankings have changed more notably. For example, in 2022, Texas ranked second in terms of local governments with 5,533, up from fifth in 1972 with 3,624 local governments.

The breakdown into types of governments also varies significantly across states. For example, in 2022, California had 1,006 school districts and 2,949 other special-purpose local governments—492 and 1,237 more entities, respectively, than Pennsylvania, which ranked ahead of it. Pennsylvania had more governments overall because it has a substantial number of subcounty governments.

Conclusion

America’s founding was grounded in a preference for limited government. Because of this, governmental power is divided vertically across the federal, state and local levels and horizontally across branches of government and different general- and special-purpose government entities. The result is a vast patchwork quilt of more than 90,000 different governments.

As President Franklin D. Roosevelt warned: “The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over its government.”See Roosevelt’s fireside chat from April 14, 1938. It would be ironic if, in an attempt to limit government, America produced so many governments that it became impractical for the people to remain well enough informed to maintain their control over the many governments that serve them.

Notes

1. Limited government describes a philosophy in which power is restricted through delegated and enumerated authorities.
2. For more details, see section 1.1 of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Government Finance and Employment Classification Manual (PDF).
3. Some changes in census definitions over time have increased the number of entities considered governments. For example, in 1962, changes in how the census defined autonomy added 1,700 special-purpose local governments to the count.
4. See Roosevelt’s fireside chat from April 14, 1938.