What is the difference between a borough and a county in reference to United States of America ?
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Counties are administrative subdivisions below the State level, but above town/city/municipality.
The usage and definition of borough differs throughout the US. It is used in seven states, Alaska, Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin.
In Alaska it is used instead of county.
In New York it refers to the 5 subdivisions of New York City. Each divisions (Manhattan, Queens, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten Island) is equivalent to a County.
In Virginia it can be used as a subdivision of a city.
For the others it refers to various types of municipalities.
The US mostly uses county for subdivisions of a state. Each individual state is welcome to call its provinces as it likes. Alaska decided to call em boroughs. Some cities decided they liked the word too. No real regulation for it though. [here’s the wiki](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borough_(United_States)) I found with 30 seconds of googlefoo.
A county is a governmentally recognized and administered region of a state. They are the 3rd level division of the country. The USA is divided up into the USA, states, then counties. Within a county may be cities, towns, or other municipalities. Counties have legislatures, regulations, agencies, departments, collect taxes, and so on. Counties are the State’s subdivision of it’s territory. A burrough is an informally recognized urban area. The term burrough isn’t used in every area. Burroughs often have their own identity, and may even be an independent civic entity. Think of counties as how the state divides itself, and burroughs as how the city divides itself.
Counties in the USA are equivalent to French departments, German districts, or Italian provinces, if you are familiar with those.
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