What is County-equivalent?
A '''county-equivalent''' in the [[United States]] is a type of area that is not inside any [[County (United States)|county]]. The county-equivalents are defined by the [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]]. They are used for administrative and statistical reasons. As of 2012, there were 3,143 counties and county-equivalents in the United States and the [[District of Columbia]]. ==Types of county-equivalents== There are three types of county-equivalents. ===First type=== The first type of county-equivalent is an area of a state which is similar to a county. Examples of this type are that [[Louisiana]] has [[List of parishes in Louisiana|parish]]es instead of counties, <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/geo/www/guidestloc/st22_la.html|publisher=United States Census Bureau|title=Louisiana|access-date=July 31, 2012}}</ref> while [[Alaska]] <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/geo/www/guidestloc/st02_ak.html|publisher=United States Census Bureau|title=Alaska|access-date=July 31, 2012}}</ref> has [[Borough (United States)|borough]]s instead of counties: the city of [[Anchorage, Alaska|Anchorage]] is considered a borough under state law. In [[Connecticut]], the state and federal government use [[Councils of governments in Connecticut|councils of governments]], instead of counties, starting in 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://portal.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/News/Press-Releases/2022/06-2022/Governor-Lamont-Announces-Census-Bureau-Approves-Proposal-for-Planning-Regions |title=Governor Lamont Announces U.S. Census Bureau Approves Proposal for Connecticut’s Planning Regions To Become County Equivalents |date=2022-06-06 |publisher=Office of Governor Ned Lamont}}</ref> ===Second type=== The second type of county-equivalent is a city that is not inside any county. Examples of this type: * In [[Virginia]], cities are not legally part of the counties that they are in, so they are considered county-equivalents.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/geo/www/guidestloc/st51_va