Number of US Counties

[Jim Severns]

Ever wondered how many counties there are in the USA? I was working with a list, so I just made a little report.

State Counties
Alabama 67
Alaska 27
Arizona 15
Arkansas 75
California 58
Colorado 64
Connecticut 8
Delaware 3
Florida 66
Georgia 160
Hawaii 5
Idaho 44
Illinois 102
Indiana 92
Iowa 99
Kansas 105
Kentucky 120
Louisiana 64
Maine 16
Maryland 24
Massachusetts 14
Michigan 83
Minnesota 87
Mississippi 82
Missouri 115
Montana 56
Nebraska 93
Nevada 17
New Hampshire 10
New Jersey 21
New Mexico 33
New York 62
North Carolina 100
North Dakota 53
Ohio 88
Oklahoma 77
Oregon 36
Pennsylvania 67
Rhode Island 5
South Carolina 46
South Dakota 66
Tennessee 95
Texas 254
Utah 29
Vermont 14
Virginia 135
Washington 39
West Virginia 55
Wisconsin 72
Wyoming 23
Grand Total 3,141

[Jim Franklin]

If you look at a map of all of the counties of the US one easily is impressed with the fact that those east of the North Dakota to Texas tier of states are much smaller than those west of the line because the original idea for counties was that a farmer could get from his farm in the farthest corner of the county to the county seat, conduct legal business and get back home by horse and buggy in one day. Later such an idea did not prevail in determining the size of counties as seen in the size of some of the western counties, some of which are bigger than eastern states.

An interesting study is the names of counties. Of course, in Louisiana the name is "parish" rather than "county."

[Gina Stevenson]

Looking at your list, I see my memory has failed me. When reading your first post questioning how many there might be, I tho't, "I don't know about other ones, but I know Michigan has 81." Well, I see the list says it's 83, not 81. Oh, well ... not any earth-shaking information that I must know at a moment's notice, eh? ;)

[Jim Franklin]

Congratulations, Gina, if your memory has failed you for the first time. It was the last day I was a teenager that I recall my memory first failing me.

[Charlotte Mercer]

I can't quite remember when my memory first failed me. It's a common occurrence, though, and I'm still 19. =P