How Many Counties Are in Each US State?

The United States has 3,144 counties and county-equivalents spread across 50 states and the District of Columbia. The term "county-equivalent" covers Louisiana's parishes, Alaska's boroughs and census areas, Connecticut's planning regions, Virginia's independent cities (along with Baltimore, St. Louis and Carson City), and the District of Columbia.

The map — counties per state at a glance

Each US state is shaded by its total county count, on a square-root scale so the smallest states (Delaware, DC, Hawaii) remain visible alongside Texas's 254. Hover any state for details.

Counties are the primary administrative division below the state level. They determine your tax jurisdiction, school district boundaries, court system, voter registration, and emergency services. Knowing your county is essential for jury duty notices, property taxes, building permits, and insurance quotes.

Top 10 states by county-equivalent count

Texas's 254 counties reflect its history as an independent republic that subdivided land for local governance. Georgia (159) and Kentucky (120) follow among states counting only counties; Virginia sits third overall with 133 county-equivalents (95 counties plus 38 independent cities the Census Bureau treats as county-equivalents). See the full county boundaries on our interactive US county map.

States (and DC) with the fewest county-equivalents

Among the states, Delaware's three counties — New Castle, Kent, and Sussex — make it the simplest for county-level analysis. Hawaii has 5 county-equivalents (Hawaii, Honolulu, Kauai, Maui, and the tiny Kalawao County on the Kalaupapa peninsula); Rhode Island has 5 counties but does not use them for local government; and Connecticut now has 9 planning regions. The District of Columbia is a single county-equivalent, though it is not a state.

Complete list: all 50 states and DC

Why do county counts vary so much?

County boundaries are a product of history, not a federal standard. States created in the colonial era (the original 13) generally have fewer, larger counties. States carved from western territories in the 19th century — like Texas and Georgia — subdivided land more aggressively so that every resident could reach the county seat within a day's horseback ride.

Some states have reorganised their county geography over time. Connecticut abolished county government in 1960, and since 2022 the Census Bureau has used the state's nine planning regions as its county-equivalents in place of the eight legacy counties. Alaska's boroughs don't cover the entire state — the remainder is the "Unorganized Borough."

What are county-equivalents?

• Parishes — Louisiana uses 64 parishes instead of counties, a legacy of French and Spanish colonial administration.
• Boroughs — Alaska has 19 organized boroughs, plus the Unorganized Borough covering the rest of the state.
• Census areas — Alaska has 11 census areas in the Unorganized Borough for statistical purposes (19 boroughs + 11 census areas = 30 county-equivalents).
• Planning regions — Connecticut uses 9 planning regions, which the Census Bureau adopted as county-equivalents in 2022.
• Independent cities — Virginia has 38 cities that are not part of any county. Baltimore, St. Louis, and Carson City (NV) also operate independently.
• The District of Columbia — functions as a single county-equivalent for census and federal data.

Counties as administrative units

Most Americans interact with their county government more often than their state government, even when they don't realize it. The county recorder or register of deeds holds the chain of title to your home, the county clerk issues your marriage license and keeps the death certificates of your relatives, and the county assessor sets the taxable value that drives your annual property tax bill. When you're called for jury duty, the summons comes from a county court drawing names from the county's voter roll and DMV file.

Counties also run vital records (birth and death certificates), issue building permits in unincorporated areas, operate the local jail, maintain rural roads, and administer elections at the precinct level. In many states the county sheriff is the chief law-enforcement officer outside municipal boundaries, and the county coroner or medical examiner determines cause of death. None of this is uniform: Maryland and Tennessee centralize school districts at the county level, while California, Texas, and Illinois let independent districts cross county lines. New England towns handle most of what counties handle elsewhere, which is why Connecticut functions without active county government at all. If you're trying to figure out which office to call, the What County Am I In? tool is usually the right first step.

Why some states use different terms

Louisiana's parishes are a Catholic legacy: French and Spanish colonial administrators organized the territory through church parishes, and the 1807 territorial legislature kept the word when it formalized civil divisions. Alaska's boroughs come from the borough form of local government written into the 1959 state constitution, and large unsettled stretches simply fall into the catch-all Unorganized Borough. Virginia's 38 independent cities exist because the state's 1871 constitution let any city of 5,000 separate itself from its surrounding county. The Census Bureau wraps all of these — parishes, boroughs, census areas, independent cities, and DC — into the single statistical category "county-equivalent," which is why the official US total is 3,144 rather than the 2,999 you get from counting only entities literally called "counties."

What changed recently

County boundaries are remarkably stable, but they are not frozen. In 2022 the Census Bureau replaced Connecticut's 8 legacy counties with 9 planning regions as the state's official county-equivalents — the data on this page reflects those 9 planning regions. And in 2019 Alaska split the former Valdez-Cordova Census Area into two new census areas, Chugach and Copper River, both of which now appear in the county-equivalent list. Those are the two changes reflected in the current Census county-equivalent file for the 50 states and DC.

How to find your county

Use our free What County Am I In? tool. It uses your GPS or an address search to identify your county instantly. You can also look up any address with the Address to County Lookup, or explore county boundaries visually on the interactive county map.

Data source

County-equivalent counts and populations come from the US Census Bureau's County Population Totals, Vintage 2025 (estimates for July 1, 2025). County boundary geometry comes from the Census Bureau's TIGER/Line shapefiles. All figures are US Census Bureau data in the public domain.

Frequently asked questions

County maps by state