Consolidated city-county governments merge two layers of local government into one

A city-county consolidation removes a layer of local government by merging a municipality with its surrounding county. Examples include Jacksonville-Duval County, Louisville-Jefferson County, and San Francisco, all of which operate as both cities and counties.

See how local, state, and federal governments divide the cost of public services

Federal, state, and local governments share responsibility for funding public services. Education, roads, and social programs are funded through a complicated mix of taxes and intergovernmental transfers.

In 1974, Los Angeles’s Community Analysis Bureau built a smart city

Los Angeles utilized aerial imaging and cluster analysis to gather and interpret civic data, leveraging surveillance technologies developed by the Department of Defense during the height of the Cold War. Instead of being used for military purposes, data insights helped direct social services to high-poverty neighborhoods.

American local government comes in five distinct forms

Counties, municipalities, townships, special districts, and school districts are each created for a different purpose, operating under different rules, and answerable to the state in different ways. Special districts, the least known of the group, are created for specific purposes, such as transit or fire protection.

Police spending is one of the largest budget items for local governments

Local governments finance most of the costs for police in the US. Total state and local criminal justice spending—covering police, courts, and corrections—reaches hundreds of billions of dollars annually.

Local governments coordinate across jurisdictions through regional councils and planning bodies

Many local governments are part of Councils of Governments or Metropolitan Planning Organizations—regional entities that coordinate transportation, land use, and other shared priorities across city and county boundaries. Federal law mandates their establishment in any metro area with a population over 50,000.

Deputy sheriffs and city police have different legal authority and chains of command

Sheriffs are elected officials at the county level, and their deputies usually patrol unincorporated areas and manage county jails. City police are hired by local government authorities and operate within city limits under a different chain of command.

Sanctuary cities limit local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement

Sanctuary cities limit how local agencies help ICE—such as restricting detainers, jail transfers, or data sharing—while still enforcing criminal law, leaving immigration enforcement mostly to federal authorities.

Many local governments also struggle to rein in their spending.

Special districts are a form of local government focused on a single purpose

Unlike cities or counties, which provide a wide range of services, special districts are created to perform a single function, such as water, transit, or mosquito control. They are governed by appointed boards, have independent taxing authority, and now number nearly 40,000 across the US.

State and local governments fund very different services

Local governments allocate 39% of their spending to K-12 education, while states allocate less than 1% directly—although much of local education funding actually comes from state and federal grants to local communities. States instead allocate their budgets to public welfare and health programs (45%) and higher education (15%).

Fire districts and fire departments are governed differently

A fire department is usually a municipal agency under the control of city or county authorities. In contrast, a fire district functions as an independent special district with its own elected board, separate budget, and taxing authority.

New York City's five boroughs each function as a separate county under state law

Each of New York City's five boroughs—Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island—corresponds to a separate county under New York State law, forming a layered government structure that is unique among major American cities.

How LA brought water to its booming population

By the turn of the 20th century, Los Angeles had grown from a dusty, crime-ridden pueblo into a thriving metropolis. The only problem was that it was growing too fast. Here's the story of how the booming town created a massive water infrastructure to redirect area rivers to its residents.

Smart cities support interdepartmental goals by facilitating shared infrastructure

Instead of working in isolation, municipal departments can share data, such as lighting and telecom needs, seamlessly and collaborate to solve larger-scale problems together. Integrating public feedback systems can further improve city services and sustainability.

Volunteer fire departments are declining as communities shift to career staff

As populations increase and emergency calls grow more complicated, many communities are replacing volunteer fire departments with full-time professional staff—a change that boosts response capacity and reliability but also significantly raises costs.

Police officer salaries vary dramatically depending on where officers serve

Officer pay varies significantly across states and cities, with the highest salaries in California, New Jersey, and Washington. Factors such as local funding, cost of living, and collective bargaining agreements influence compensation.

LA used to have one of the best mass transit systems in the country

A century ago, Los Angeles had one of the greatest urban transit networks in America. Today, driving in LA traffic can still be faster than taking the train. The city's rail design, which funnels traffic through a single point, fails to support a city with such a spread-out population.

Public school districts are subsidizing housing for their teachers to combat the growing nationwide teacher shortage.

Some argue that America is too dependent on consulting

Many major companies in America—not to mention the federal government—spend thousands of dollars a month paying to contract major consulting firms.

Show business is increasingly leaving Hollywood

Using tax incentives, states like Georgia, New Jersey, and New Mexico are luring studios to produce their films and television shows outside of California. Changing business models after COVID-19 largely influenced this change.

Dubai and Barcelona are examples of smart cities

By integrating technology into public transit, utilities, and other municipal systems, these cities aim to reduce costs and enhance the quality of life for their residents. Some of these technologies include adaptive lighting, parking sensors, and underground waste systems.

Hawaii is the only US state with no incorporated municipalities

Unlike every other state, Hawaii has no cities or towns. Its four county governments manage all local services—the functions that municipalities provide elsewhere in the US—across the entire state.

Some police departments in California have officers specialized in hive crime

The cost of a beehive climbed from about $35 in the early 2010s to $200 as of 2020, which has incentivized some to steal hives at night. These kidnappings led to the creation of dedicated task forces in the state, whose almond farms have created an extraordinary demand for pollinators.

The powers of local government are rooted in state law, not the Constitution

Unlike the federal government or the states, local governments have no constitutional standing—they exist only because state law allows them to. A state legislature can redraw a city's boundaries, strip its powers, or dissolve it entirely.

Local governments are responsible for more than 148,000 public water systems across the US

From large municipal utilities to small rural systems, local governments are tasked with providing clean water to almost every American community. The US operates over 148,000 public water systems.

15 out of 25 major US cities have a lower cost of living than their nearby suburbs

These cities are Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Boston, San Francisco, Detroit, Minneapolis, Denver, Baltimore, St. Louis, Orlando, Charlotte, and San Antonio. This article details the cost of living in major US cities versus their nearby suburbs, according to data from 2023.

Local governments borrow money for long-term projects by issuing municipal bonds

When a city needs to build a school, a road, or a water treatment plant, it usually issues a municipal bond—borrowing money from investors to be paid back over time. The market for these bonds now exceeds $4T.

Two doctrines of local governance determine how much power cities actually have

Under what is known as "Dillon's Rule," local governments can only exercise powers explicitly granted by the state. Under "home rule," cities have broader self-governing authority—but the balance between the two depends entirely on state law.

One in seven US tax dollars is collected by local governments

Local governments collect about $886B each year to support education, infrastructure, and public health. Roughly three-quarters of this funding comes from property taxes, with the rest sourced from sales, excise, and income taxes.

Journalists are increasingly unionizing

The LA Times was a famously anti-union paper—until its owner sought to cut costs by consolidating positions across its portfolio. This paper isn’t alone. Over the past few years, as the news business struggled, many publications kicked their unionizing efforts up a notch.

Why some US cities pay thousands of dollars for a single public trash can

The rationale supposes high-end, heavy-duty trash cans reduce litter and maintenance costs, justifying per-unit costs of close to $3,000 in some municipalities. But results are mixed, and some experiments using cheap 55-gallon drums were similarly effective.

Charter schools are publicly funded schools that are not run by public school districts.

See how a 2018 fire in Paradise, California, exposed the limits of emergency coordination

This Frontline documentary shows how the Camp Fire stretched and ultimately overwhelmed the complex web of agencies involved in emergency response, including fire suppression, 911 dispatch, law enforcement, and emergency management, with catastrophic results.

Louisiana has parishes instead of counties

Louisiana is the only US state that uses parishes rather than counties as its primary local government unit. The distinction traces back to the state's French and Spanish Catholic colonial heritage.

A 1927 map shows where Paramount shot its many productions

The skeleton key of California identified in-state locations that would substitute for shooting films abroad. It includes some interesting choices, like establishing Wales along the Los Angeles coast.

Cities bore the brunt of the migrant surge in the 2020s

During the 2022-24 migration surge, cities such as New York, Chicago, and Denver faced shelter overcrowding, strained public services, and housing shortages—while the upfront costs fell almost entirely to states and cities.

Portland, Oregon, ran under a commission government for more than 100 years

From 1913 to 2024, Portland operated under a commission form of government, in which five elected commissioners each directly managed their own city bureaus—a structure that was largely abandoned elsewhere in the US by the mid-20th century.