A county of the United States is a local level of government smaller than a state and not smaller than a city or town, with some exceptions, in a U.S. state or territory. The word county is used in 48 of the 50 states, while Louisiana uses the term parish and Alaska uses the word borough. Including those, there are 3,077 counties in the US, an average of 62 counties per state. The state with the fewest counties is Delaware (three), and the state with the most is Texas (254). In many states, counties are subdivided into townships or towns and may contain other independent, self-governing municipalities. The site of a county's administration and courts is called the county seat.
The U.S. Census Bureau lists 3,141 counties or county-equivalent administrative units. The power of the county government varies widely from state to state, as does the relationship between counties and incorporated municipal governments. The distribution of power between the state government, county governments, and municipal governments is defined in each state's constitution.
