eli5 what are unincorporated communities and cdp’s?
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Cdps are closely designated areas that are divided by the census: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/bas/information/cdp.html. this can include unincorporated communities which are towns or population centers that are not incorporated into any nearby cities, sometimes not even being incorporated into their metropolitan areas: https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/unincorporated-community#:~:text=Unincorporated%20community%20means%20a%20population,1.
An unincorporated area (I live in one) is an area where people might be living our farms and such, that is not within any city’s boundaries.
For example, I live in one like I said. I don’t pay any of the closest city’s taxes. I just pay stuff that applies to our county.
Instead of city police I get the sheriff’s department that responds to issues. There is no mayor, but our county is ran by a board of elected commissioners.
Of course it probably varies a bit depending on where you live.
First, every US state has its own slightly unique form of local government structure and words. Mostly, though, every state is divided into counties, parishes, or similar areas that cover all land in that state.
Hiatorically, when you got a cluster of homes and businesses growing up in an area, the people there decided they needed a little bit of extra structure to address local needs that were more specific than the general county-wide needs – paving streets or having a fire department or whatever. So they would “incorporate” a city or town or village government that had various powers and responsibilities (which vary a bunch depending on which state you’re in).
“Unincorporated” areas are generally anything that’s outside of those local governments. In some states, that unincorporated area is just the county; other states divide up the county into townships.
“Census designated places” are places where the US Census Bureau has said, “hey there’s a cluster of population here that’s big enough and dense enough to be worth measuring as it’s own thing, even if they never took the step of forming a local government.” So, that area generally has no legal status under state law, but they typically have a name, and the Census will track that area as a distinct thing. They’re typically smaller places, a few hundred people.
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