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Local · who governs

Who governs each county

A place is governed by more bodies than most of its residents know: the county, the city or village, often a township, and a layer of districts — fire, water, housing, library, parks — each with a board that meets in public and spends public money. This lists all of them.

77,951 public bodies — 38,640 counties, municipalities and townships and 39,311 special districts — from the 2022 Census of Governments, read on 2026-09-26.

What this cannot show

When any of these bodies meets, or what it decided. Each publishes its own; the row links to the website the Census recorded, where there is one.

Why? 3 more
  • Bodies created or dissolved since 2022. The Census of Governments is taken every five years; the next is 2027.
  • Where a special district's territory runs. Its office is in one county; the area it serves can cross several.
  • School districts, which are listed from the newer NCES directory at /local/school-districts.

Where this comes from

U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Census of Governments, Government Units List (published August 2023) — the Bureau’s page, and the file, read whole. Bodies the Census marks inactive are left out. Names are the Bureau’s, set in ordinary capitals for reading; each row carries its Census ID.