Local Government

The form of local government in which an elected council sets policy and hires a professional manager to run day-to-day operations

The roughly 3,000 county governments that administer state functions locally, from courts, jails, and elections to roads, health, and property records

The elected leaders of American cities, and the strong-mayor and weak-mayor systems that divide power between them

The roughly 19,000 incorporated cities, towns, and villages that provide policing, water, zoning, and other services where most Americans live

How counties, cities, school districts, and special districts pay for services, through property taxes, fees, state aid, and municipal bonds

The roughly 13,000 local school districts and elected boards that run public education, funded mainly by local property taxes and state aid

The roughly 18,000 local law enforcement agencies, from elected county sheriffs to city police departments, that carry out most American policing

The nearly 40,000 single-purpose local governments that provide water, fire protection, transit, hospitals, and other services, the most numerous type of local government

The roughly 16,000 town and township governments of the Northeast and Midwest, from New England town meetings to rural road districts