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County statistics of the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
 | | The term "county" is used in 48 of the 50 states of the United States for the level of local government below the state itself. |
 | | Louisiana uses the term "parishes," Alaska uses "boroughs." In several states in New England, some or all counties within states have no governments of their own; the counties continue to exist as legal entities, however, and are used by states for some administrative functions and by the United States Census bureau for stastistical analysis. |
 | | The only Virginia statistic affected is "smallest county by area"; if independent cities are included, Falls Church becomes the smallest "county" in the state, and in fact the smallest county-level political subdivision in the United States, at 2.0 square miles (5 km²). |
| en.wikipedia.org /wiki/County_statistics_of_the_United_States (448 words) |