County Commission / Board of Supervisors
Usually 4 years · District or at-large voters
The county's legislative body: budget, land use, ordinances.
✶ 50 states · 3,142 counties & equivalents
Closer
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Most of the offices you vote for are local. Pick a state, then a county, to see what gets decided there — and where to find every candidate on your ballot.
State legislature · Open States
Who sits in the statehouse
Choose a state above to see its legislature, seat by seat.
Try it · Counties per state
From Texas's 254 to Delaware's 3.
3,142 counties and equivalents (parishes, boroughs, independent cities). Each runs its own elections and elects its own officials. Tap a bar to open that state on the map.
Connecticut abolished county government in 1960 and in 2022 the Census replaced its 8 counties with 9 planning regions; this map uses the older county lines.
3,143 counties & equivalents
What a county elects
Counties run courts, jails, property records, elections and roads. Louisiana calls them parishes; Alaska, boroughs.
Sheriff
Usually 4 years · County voters
Elected in nearly every state. Runs the county jail and patrols unincorporated areas.
District Attorney / Prosecutor
Usually 4 years · County or judicial-district voters
Decides which crimes are charged. Elected in 45+ states.
Clerk · Recorder · Assessor · Treasurer · Coroner
Usually 4 years · County voters
Clerks often run elections and keep records; assessors value property for taxes; coroners investigate deaths.
Trial court judges
4–10 years · Voters in most states, or appointment then retention
Many voters' ballots include long lists of judicial retention questions: vote yes to keep a judge, no to remove.