Mike Bergman CB03-10
Public Information Office
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e-mail: pio@census.gov
Census Bureau Reports Number
of Local Governments Nears 88,000
The number of the nation's local governments totaled 87,525 in 2002 and
nearly one-third of them provided information and services online,
according to the first information from the 2002 Census of Governments [PDF 1MB]
released today by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau.
"About 3-in-10 of the responding local governments, which includes
school districts, reported they had an official Internet site," said
Stephen Poyta, co-author of the report. "This is the first census of
governments to ask questions about e-government. The last one was five
years ago.
Grouped by population size, 78 percent of governments serving
populations of 25,000 or more reported an official website, while only 20
percent of those serving less than 25,000 population had an online
presence."
Other highlights of the report:
- Overall, the number of local governments increased by less than 1
percent since 1997.
- The tally of governments among the nation's 3,136 county or
county-equivalent areas was: 3,034 counties; 19,429 municipalities;
16,504 townships; 35,052 special districts; and 13,506 independent
school districts.
- There were nine fewer county governments that were active in 2002
than in 1997, and the number of such governments is now lower than
at any time since 1921.
- The average population served by a county government is about 83,000.
The smallest, Loving County, Texas, had only 67 inhabitants in 2000,
while Los Angeles County had more than 9.5 million.
- Florida, Texas and North Carolina showed the greatest increase in new
municipal incorporations over the past five years, with a growth
rate of about 2 percent.
- Only one state, Indiana, had township governments covering all of its
area and population.
- Of the 35,052 special district governments, 31,877 served a single
purpose. Of these, 21 percent served a natural resources function
such as drainage and flood control.
- California, Illinois and Texas had the most special district
governments; the District of Columbia, Alaska and Hawaii had the
fewest. Examples of special district governments were fire
protection, housing and community development, and water supply.
- In 2002, there were 106 fewer school districts in Nebraska than in
1997, the largest decrease in the nation.
Data in the report, Government Organization: 2002, came from state and
local government administrative records, legislative research and a
directory survey of about 90,000 state and local governments and
subordinate agencies. It is the first in a series of 2002 Census of
Governments publications on public-sector statistics.
Although the data are not subject to sampling error, they are subject to
various nonsampling errors. Sources of nonsampling error include lost or
mishandled questionnaires, inaccurate coding, misclassification of
governments, coverage errors and nonreporting.
available free from Adobe.
