How do counties in the USA work?

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I’m from the Philippines and we divide things differently here. The country is divided into provinces, which are divided into cities/municipalities, which are divided into barangays.

So I looked at a map of Washington and saw that Seattle is not its own county, but is a part of a county. So are states in the USA divided into counties, which are then divided into towns and cities?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Sometimes. There is no clear rule. States can create counties however they want and give them whatever powers they want. Counties are not equal. Some have literally no role or powers whatsoever. Some are the only local government in the area. A few have millions of residents. A couple have less than 100 inhabitants.

For most states counties have a few general powers while cities can be formed to handle the rest if the locals want to. But there are a million other variations.

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