December 4, 2019: There are a total of 90,126 governments in the United States.[1]
This includes 50 state governments; 3,031 county governments; 19,495 Municipal Governments; 16,253 Township Governments; and 12,754 Independent School Districts.[2]
Additionally, there are tens of thousands of Special Districts created for specific purposes. Special districts have been created to provide a wide variety of services, everything from airports and ports to electricity, fire protection, parks, and cemeteries.[3]
An earlier Number of the Day noted that there are an estimated 519,000 elected officials running these governments.
The Census Bureau is required to count the number of governing bodies every five years. The figures reported here are from 2017 (the latest data available).
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