Map Layer Info
| County Boundaries of the United States | |
What this map layer shows: The boundaries for counties and county equivalents. |
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| Background Information | |
Sample Map
Counties play widely varying roles within the governments of the States. Historically, the framers of the Constitution of the United States gave exclusive powers to the States to establish their own local governments. As a result, local governments reflect the history, philosophies, geography, and needs of each State. Most of the counties and county equivalents in the United States have fully functioning governments, although in the States of Connecticut and Rhode Island, none of the county subdivisions have functioning governments. Traditionally, counties have provided services to their citizens, such as record keeping, maintenance of rural roads, property assessment, the administration of elections, and other public services. Today, many county governments are moving into areas such as economic development, consumer protection, planning and zoning, and water quality. The County Boundaries of the United States, 2001 map layer features boundaries for counties and county equivalents for the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This map layer is the only county boundaries information that can be viewed online with the National Atlas Map Maker; however, historic county boundaries map layers for 1980, 1990, and 2000 are available for downloading from the National Atlas. The U.S. Geological Survey compiled all these map layers, using a variety of sources; the sources are listed in the raw-data documentation. Descriptive information includes county and State names and the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) codes for each county. FIPS codes are standardized numeric codes used to ensure uniform identification of geographic entities through all Federal Government agencies. |
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| Boundaries |
| Map Maker Sample |
| Counties |
