The United States has roughly 19,500 municipalities, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 Census of Governments.1U.S. Census Bureau. 2022 Census of Governments, Organization Tables That figure covers incorporated cities, towns, villages, and boroughs across all 50 states. Municipalities are just one layer of local government; the country also has thousands of counties, townships, school districts, and special-purpose districts, which together push the total number of local government units well above 90,000.
Where the 19,500 Figure Comes From
The Census Bureau conducts a Census of Governments every five years, covering years ending in “2” and “7.” It has followed that schedule since 1957. The survey catalogs every state and local government in the country and records each entity’s type, organizational structure, and fiscal data.2U.S. Census Bureau. About Census of Governments Federal law authorizes the count: 13 U.S.C. ยง 161 directs the Census Bureau to compile data on the governments of states, counties, cities, and other local units, including their taxes, expenditures, debts, and employees.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 13 USC 161 Quinquennial Censuses; Inclusion of Certain Data
The 19,500 tally comes from the most recent 2022 count. That number has drifted slightly downward over recent decades, though it moves only at the margins from one cycle to the next.
What Counts as a Municipality
The Census Bureau recognizes an entity as an incorporated place when it meets three conditions: it is legally incorporated under state law, it has a legally defined boundary, and it has an active, functioning governmental structure.4U.S. Census Bureau. Census Designated Places Those requirements come from state law, not federal law. Each state sets its own rules for how communities incorporate, what population thresholds apply, and what paperwork is required.
The boundary requirement defines where local ordinances apply and where the municipality can levy taxes. The governmental structure typically means elected officials who manage public resources, although some inactive incorporated places retain their legal boundaries without providing regular services.5U.S. Census Bureau. Geographic Areas Reference Manual – Places Incorporation usually involves a charter, a foundational document comparable to a local constitution, granted by the state legislature directly or through a general municipal corporation law.
Population thresholds for incorporation vary widely. Alaska requires at least 400 permanent residents for a home-rule or first-class city but sets no minimum for a second-class city. Arizona requires 1,500 residents and mandates that the area be urban rather than agricultural. Arkansas requires 4,000 residents and prohibits new incorporations within five miles of an existing municipality’s boundaries unless the existing city consents. Some states have no specific population threshold, relying instead on petition signatures or voter referendums.
Census Designated Places Are Not Included
Communities that look like towns but lack formal incorporation are not counted among the 19,500. They appear in Census data as Census Designated Places. A CDP is a statistical tool, not a government. It lets the Census Bureau publish demographic data for well-known unincorporated communities without implying they have a local government or legal boundaries. A location cannot be both an incorporated place and a CDP.4U.S. Census Bureau. Census Designated Places About 37 percent of Americans live outside incorporated places, in unincorporated areas where county government or special districts handle services instead of a municipal government.
Cities, Towns, Villages, and Boroughs
“Municipality” is a legal umbrella that covers cities, towns, villages, and boroughs. The label a community carries usually reflects its population size or historical character at the time it incorporated. Dense, large-population areas tend to use the city designation, which comes with the administrative apparatus to manage complex infrastructure and large public safety departments. Smaller communities often use the village or town label.
Boroughs function as sub-county administrative divisions in a handful of states, most notably in the Northeast. Regardless of the title, all of these entities operate as legal corporations. They can enter contracts, levy taxes, issue debt, and sue or be sued. State statutes often dictate which title a community can use based on its current population or land area. Arizona, for example, draws the line at 3,000 residents: below that threshold the entity is a town, and above it the entity qualifies as a city.
Why the Count Changes Over Time
The number of municipalities isn’t fixed. Three main forces move it.
Mergers and consolidations reduce the count. When two neighboring governments combine, the result is a single municipality that inherits the tax base, infrastructure, and service obligations of both. These mergers usually require voter approval in each affected community, and they don’t always pass. Residents in smaller communities sometimes worry about losing local identity or seeing tax rates change. When mergers do go through, they can produce real savings through consolidated public-works departments, unified police forces, and lower per-capita administrative costs.
Dissolution also removes a municipality from the map. When a community’s population and tax base shrink to the point where it cannot fund essential services, the state may revoke the municipality’s charter. The area reverts to unincorporated status, and county government or neighboring municipalities pick up whatever services remain. Dissolution is relatively rare but happens often enough to contribute to the slow, long-term decline in the total count.
New incorporations push the number back up. Growing populations in unincorporated areas occasionally organize themselves into a new municipality, following whatever petition, threshold, and referendum rules their state requires.
Annexation, by contrast, changes boundaries without changing the count. A municipality absorbs adjacent unincorporated land, extending its taxing authority and service obligations to the annexed area, but no new government is created and none disappears. Some states allow voluntary annexation only, where the unincorporated residents or landowners petition to join. Others permit involuntary annexation, where a municipality can absorb contiguous land without resident consent.
Municipalities Within the Larger Local Government System
Municipalities get most of the public attention, but they account for only about a fifth of all local governments. The Census Bureau also tracks roughly 3,000 counties, about 16,000 townships, roughly 13,000 school districts, and over 38,000 special-purpose districts as of the 2017 count. Together with state governments, these entities form the layered system that delivers everything from K-12 education to mosquito control.
Counties and Townships
Counties serve as the primary administrative division of a state, covering virtually all land area. Municipal governments sit inside counties and sometimes overlap with townships, which are sub-county units found mainly in the Midwest and Northeast. In states with strong township governance, these entities provide services like road maintenance, property assessment, and basic zoning that look a lot like what a small municipality would offer. In other states, townships are little more than geographic labels with minimal governing authority.
Special-Purpose Districts
A special-purpose district is an independent local government authorized to perform one function or a small set of related functions, such as fire protection, water supply, parks, libraries, or transit. Unlike a city or county that handles a wide range of services, a special district focuses narrowly and usually funds itself through property-tax levies or user fees collected only from residents within its boundaries. The Census Bureau counts these separately from school districts, even though both are single-function entities. Special districts are the fastest-growing category of local government, largely because they let communities fund specific services without incorporating as a full municipality.
Shared Services Between Governments
Small municipalities that lack the budget or staff to run their own police department, water system, or building-inspection office routinely contract those services from a neighboring city or county. Common examples include a county running elections on a city’s behalf, a city providing water and sewer service in unincorporated areas, and mutual-aid pacts where neighboring governments assist each other during emergencies. The contract-city model, where a municipality outsources nearly all service delivery and operates mainly as a governing body, exists in several states and keeps administrative costs low for communities that otherwise couldn’t sustain full-time departments.