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You are here: Census.gov › Business & Industry › Federal, State, & Local Governments › Lists & Structure of Governments

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Data Tools

Get lists of governments by state or by type with Governments Integrated Directory 2007

Reference Documents

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These visualizations depict the growth of special districts and decline of school districts over time: 1952-2012. Darker shades indicate more governmental units. Gray indicates that the governmental unit has no data for that census year. The geographic distribution of special districts and school districts to counties is an approximation based on single county associations, though special districts and school districts in some parts of the U.S. may have boundaries that intersect multiple counties.

Structure of Governments

2012 Individual State Descriptions [PDF, 1,036MB]

Explains how each state is organized into the different types of local governments.
Explains how governments' responsibilities and authority vary from state to state, or within a state.

Number of Governments

2012 Census of Governments: The Many Layers of American Government [PDF, 3.5MB]

Did you Know?

Did you know there were 90,107 governments in the U.S. in 2012, up from 89,527 in 2007.

Announcements

Late 2014: Preliminary release of 2012 Census of Governments: Finance data for state and local governments.

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