County Equivalents: Parishes, Boroughs, Census Areas, and More
The US has 3,144 counties — but many areas that function as counties in federal data aren't actually called counties. These are known as county equivalents. Each has its own FIPS code and is treated identically to a county in every federal dataset.
The Full List of County Equivalent Types
Louisiana — Parishes
Browse LA →Louisiana is divided into 64 parishes instead of counties, a legacy of French and Spanish colonial governance. Every federal dataset that uses county FIPS codes treats Louisiana parishes identically to counties. State FIPS: 22.
Alaska — Boroughs and Census Areas
Browse AK →Alaska has no counties at all. Instead it has organized boroughs (similar to counties), unified home-rule municipalities, and large census areas for unorganized territory. Census areas are defined only for statistical purposes and have no local government. State FIPS: 02.
Virginia — Independent Cities
Full guide →Virginia has 38 independent cities that are legally separate from any county. Each has its own FIPS code. This is the most common source of Virginia data errors — county-level aggregations that don't include independent cities will undercount the state total. State FIPS: 51.
Washington D.C. — The District
View DC FIPS →
The District of Columbia is both a state equivalent (FIPS 11) and a county equivalent
(FIPS 11001). In county-level datasets, DC appears as a single county-equivalent row.
DC is always both the state and the county in any federal data query.
Puerto Rico — Municipios
Browse PR →Puerto Rico is divided into 78 municipios (municipalities), which serve as county equivalents in federal data. Puerto Rico's state FIPS is 72. Not all federal datasets include Puerto Rico — check individual dataset documentation.
FIPS Class Codes for County Equivalents
The Census Bureau assigns a class code to each county-equivalent that identifies its type:
| Class Code | Meaning | Where |
|---|---|---|
H1 | Standard active county | Most states |
H4 | Independent city (smaller) | Virginia, Nevada (Carson City) |
H5 | Consolidated city-county | Denver, San Francisco, etc. |
H6 | County equivalent (not a county) | Louisiana, Alaska, DC, territories |
C7 | Independent city (larger) | Virginia (100K+ population) |
Rule: Always Treat County Equivalents as Counties
In any federal dataset, if the documentation says "county-level data," the data includes all county equivalents — parishes, boroughs, census areas, independent cities, municipios. Never filter to only rows where the place name ends in "County."
-- ✗ Wrong — misses parishes, boroughs, independent cities, etc.
SELECT * FROM federal_data WHERE county_name LIKE '%County%';
-- ✓ Correct — use FIPS code range for the state
SELECT * FROM federal_data WHERE state_fips = '22'; -- all Louisiana parishes included