Editing County seat

{{Short description|Administrative center for a county or civil parish}}
{{More citations needed|date=August 2023}}
{{Use American English|date=August 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
A '''county seat''' is an administrative center, [[seat of government]], or capital city of a [[county]] or [[parish (administrative division)|civil parish]]. The term is in use in five countries: [[Canada]], [[China]], [[Hungary]], [[Romania]], and the [[United States]]. An equivalent term, '''shire town''', is used in the [[U.S. state]] of [[Vermont]] and in several other English-speaking jurisdictions.<ref>[https://vtliving.com/vermontshires/ VT Shire Towns:  Visiting The Shires of Vermont]</ref>

==Canada==
In [[Canada]], the [[Provinces and territories of Canada|provinces]] of [[Ontario]], [[Quebec]], [[New Brunswick]], [[Prince Edward Island]], and [[Nova Scotia]] have counties as an administrative division of government below the provincial level, and thus county seats. In the provinces of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, the term "shire town" is used in place of county seat.<ref>{{cite web |title=County Map of Nova Scotia |url=https://archives.novascotia.ca/maps/county/ |website=Nova Scotia Archives |date=20 April 2020 |access-date=3 June 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title='What happened?' Long forgotten Dorchester wharf was once heart of shire town |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/roadside-history-james-upham-dorchester-wharf-new-brunswick-1.6724447 |website=CBC News |publisher=CBC |access-date=3 June 2024}}</ref>

==China==
{{Main|Counties of China}}
County seats in China are the administrative centers of the counties in the [[China|People's Republic of China]].
They have existed since the [[Warring States period]] and were set up nationwide by the [[Qin dynasty]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Hsu |first=Cho-yun |translator-last1=Baker |translator-first1=Timothy D. Jr. |translator-last2=Duke |translator-first2=Michael S. |year=2012 |orig-year=2006 |title=China: A New Cultural History |publisher=Columbia University Press |page=102 |isbn=9780231159203}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Goodman |editor-first=David S.G. |year=2015 |title=Handbook of the Politics of China |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing Limited |page=159 |isbn=9781782544364}}</ref> The number of counties in [[China proper]] gradually increased from dynasty to dynasty. As [[Qin Shi Huang]] reorganized the counties after his unification, there were about 1,000. Under the Eastern [[Han dynasty]], the number of counties increased to above 1,000. About 1400 existed when the [[Sui dynasty]] abolished the [[Commandery (China)|commandery]] level (郡 jùn), which was the level just above counties, and demoted some commanderies to counties. 

In Imperial China, the county was a significant administrative unit because it marked the lowest level of the imperial bureaucratic structure;<ref>{{cite book |last1=Zarrow |first1=Peter |title=China in War and Revolution, 1895–1949 |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-21976-6 |page=58 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ijaAAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA58 |language=en}}</ref> in other words, it was the lowest level that the government reached. Government below the county level was often undertaken through informal non-bureaucratic means, varying between dynasties. The head of a county was the [[county magistrate|magistrate]], who oversaw both the day-to-day operations of the county as well as civil and criminal cases.

The current number of counties mostly resembled that of the later years of the [[Qing dynasty]]. Changes of location and names of counties in [[History of China|Chinese history]] have been a major field of research in Chinese historical geography, especially from the 1960s to the 1980s. There are 1,355 counties in [[Mainland China]] out of a total of 2,851 county-level divisions.

== Taiwan ==
{{Main|County (Taiwan)}}
{{unreferenced section|date=August 2023}}
[[File:苗栗縣政府 Miaoli County Government - panoramio.jpg|thumb|[[Miaoli]], the county seat of [[Miaoli County]] in Taiwan]]
In [[Taiwan]], the first counties were first established in 1661 by the [[Kingdom of Tungning]]. The later ruler [[Taiwan under Qing rule|Qing empire]] inherited this type of administrative divisions. With the increase of [[Han Chinese]] population in Taiwan, the number of counties also grew by time. By the end of Qing era, there were 11 counties in Taiwan. [[Protestant missions in China|Protestant missionaries]] in China first romanized the term as '''hien'''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Davidson |first1=James W. |author-link=James W. Davidson |title=The Island of Formosa, Past and Present: History, People, Resources, and Commercial Prospects: Tea, Camphor, Sugar, Gold, Coal, Sulphur, Economical Plants, and Other Productions |year=1903 |publisher=Macmillan & Co. |url=https://archive.org/details/islandofformosap00davi |location=London and New York |ol=6931635M |page=[https://archive.org/details/islandofformosap00davi/page/93 93]}}</ref> When [[Taiwan under Japanese rule|Taiwan]] became a [[Empire of Japan|Japanese colony]] in 1895, the hierarchy of divisions also incorporated into the [[Administrative divisions of Japan|Japanese system]] in the period when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. 

By September 1945, Taiwan was divided into 8 [[prefectures of Japan|prefectures]] ({{lang|ja|州}} and {{lang|ja|廳}}), which remained after the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] took over. 

There are 13 county seats in Taiwan, which function as [[county-administered city|county-administered cities]], [[Township (Taiwan)|urban townships]], or [[Township (Taiwan)|rural townships]].

===Lists of county seats===
{{see also|Counties of Taiwan}}
{| border="0"
|-
|
* [[Changhua City]]
* [[Douliu]] City
* [[Hualien City]]
* [[Jincheng, Kinmen|Jincheng Township]]
* [[Magong, Taiwan|Magong City]]
|
* [[Miaoli City]]
* [[Nangan, Lienchiang|Nangan Township]]
* [[Nantou City]]
* [[Pingtung City]]
|
* [[Taibao]] City
* [[Taitung City]]
* [[Yilan City]]
* [[Zhubei]] City
|}

==United States==
[[File:Allentown.jpg|thumb|[[Allentown, Pennsylvania]], the third-largest city in [[Pennsylvania]] and county seat of [[Lehigh County, Pennsylvania|Lehigh County]]]]
[[File:Renville County Courthouse MN.jpg|thumb|Many county seats in the United States feature a historic courthouse, such as this one in [[Renville County, Minnesota]].]]
===Function===
[[File:QACourthouse QueenstownMD.jpg|thumb|The old courthouse in [[Centreville, Maryland]], the county seat of [[Queen Anne's County, Maryland]], U.S.]]
In most of the [[United States]], a [[County (United States)|county]] is an [[Administrative division|administrative]] or political subdivision of a [[U.S. state|state]] that consists of a geographic area with specific [[Border|boundaries]] and usually some level of governmental authority.<ref name=NACO>{{cite web |url = http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/Overview.aspx |title = An Overview of County Government |work = [[National Association of Counties]] |access-date = 25 April 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130417063950/http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/Overview.aspx |archive-date = 17 April 2013 |url-status = dead |df = mdy-all }}</ref> The city, town, or populated place that houses county government is known as the '''seat''' of its county. Generally, the county legislature, [[county courthouse]], [[Sheriffs in the United States|sheriff's department headquarters]], hall of records, [[County Jail|jail]] and [[correctional facility]] are located in the county seat, though some functions (such as highway maintenance, which usually requires a large garage for vehicles, along with asphalt and salt storage facilities) may also be located or conducted in other parts of the county, especially if it is geographically large.

A county seat is usually an incorporated [[municipality]]. The exceptions include the county seats of counties that have no incorporated municipalities within their borders, such as [[Arlington County, Virginia]], where the county seat is the entire county.<ref>{{cite web|title=Counties in Virginia and the Location of Their Seats of Government|url=http://www.dhcd.virginia.gov/CommissiononLocalGovernment/PDFs/county.seats.pdf|publisher=Virginia Commission on Local Government|access-date=10 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113040156/http://www.dhcd.virginia.gov/CommissiononLocalGovernment/PDFs/county.seats.pdf|archive-date=13 November 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Ellicott City, Maryland|Ellicott City]], the county seat of [[Howard County, Maryland]], is the largest unincorporated county seat in the United States, followed by [[Towson, Maryland|Towson]], the county seat of [[Baltimore County, Maryland]]. Likewise, some county seats may not be incorporated in their own right, but are located within incorporated municipalities. For example, [[Cape May Court House, New Jersey]], though unincorporated, is a section of [[Middle Township, New Jersey|Middle Township]], an incorporated municipality. In some states, often those that were among the original [[Thirteen Colonies]], county seats include or formerly included "Court House" as part of their name, such as [[Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia]].

===U.S. counties with more than one county seat===
Most counties have only one county seat. However, some counties in [[Alabama]], [[Arkansas]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[Iowa]], [[Kentucky]], [[Massachusetts]], [[Mississippi]], [[Missouri]], [[New Hampshire]], [[New York (state)|New York]], and [[Vermont]] have two or more county seats, usually located on opposite sides of the county. Examples include [[Harrison County, Mississippi]], which has both [[Biloxi, Mississippi|Biloxi]] and [[Gulfport, Mississippi|Gulfport]] as county seats, and [[Hinds County, Mississippi]], which has both [[Raymond, Mississippi|Raymond]] and the state capital of [[Jackson, Mississippi|Jackson]]. The practice of multiple county seat towns dates from the days when travel was difficult. There have been few efforts to eliminate the two-seat arrangement, since a county seat is a source of [[boosterism|civic pride]] for the towns involved, along with providing employment opportunities.

There are 33 counties with multiple county seats in 11 states:
* [[Coffee County, Alabama]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.coffeecounty.us/History.html|title=History of Coffee County|website=Coffee County, Alabama|access-date=19 August 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111027140704/http://www.coffeecounty.us/History.html|archive-date=27 October 2011}}</ref><!-- NACo lists only one, but county website says there are two. -->
* [[St. Clair County, Alabama]]
* [[Arkansas County, Arkansas]]
* [[Carroll County, Arkansas]]
* [[Clay County, Arkansas]]
* [[Craighead County, Arkansas]]
* [[Franklin County, Arkansas]]
* [[Logan County, Arkansas]]
* [[Mississippi County, Arkansas]]
* [[Prairie County, Arkansas]]
* [[Sebastian County, Arkansas]]
* [[Yell County, Arkansas]]
* [[Columbia County, Georgia]]
* [[Lee County, Iowa]]
* [[Campbell County, Kentucky]]
* [[Kenton County, Kentucky]]
* [[Essex County, Massachusetts]]
* [[Middlesex County, Massachusetts]]
* [[Plymouth County, Massachusetts]]
* [[Bolivar County, Mississippi]]
* [[Carroll County, Mississippi]]
* [[Chickasaw County, Mississippi]]
* [[Harrison County, Mississippi]]
* [[Hinds County, Mississippi]]
* [[Jasper County, Mississippi]]
* [[Jones County, Mississippi]]
* [[Panola County, Mississippi]]
* [[Tallahatchie County, Mississippi]]
* [[Yalobusha County, Mississippi]]
* [[Jackson County, Missouri]]
* [[Hillsborough County, New Hampshire]]
* [[Seneca County, New York]]
* [[Bennington County, Vermont]]

===Other variations===
====Alaska====
[[Alaska]] is divided into [[List of boroughs and census areas in Alaska|boroughs]] rather than counties; the county seat in these case is referred to as the "borough seat"; this includes six consolidated city-borough governments (one of which is styled as a "municipality"). The [[Unorganized Borough, Alaska]], which covers 49% of the state's area, has no borough government or borough seat. One borough, the [[Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska|Lake and Peninsula Borough]], has its borough seat located in another borough, namely [[King Salmon, Alaska|King Salmon]] in [[Bristol Bay Borough, Alaska|Bristol Bay Borough]].

====Louisiana====
In [[Louisiana]], which is divided into [[List of parishes in Louisiana|parishes]] rather than counties, county seats are referred to as "parish seats".

====New England====
In [[New England]], counties have served mainly as dividing lines for the states' judicial systems. [[Rhode Island]] has no county level of government and thus no county seats, and [[Massachusetts]] has dissolved many but not all of its county governments. In [[Vermont]], [[Massachusetts]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleII/Chapter231/Section82|title=General Law - Part III, Title II, Chapter 231, Section 82 |website=General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts |access-date= 15 July 2013}}</ref> and [[Maine]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/33/title33sec701.html|title=Title 33, §701: Office in shire town|work=Maine State Legislature }}</ref> county government consists only of a [[Superior Court]] and [[Sheriffs in the United States|Sheriff]] (as an [[officer of the court]]), both located in a designated "shire town". Bennington County, Vermont has two shire towns; the court for "North Shire" is in the shire town [[Manchester, Vermont|Manchester]], and the Sheriff for the county and court for "South Shire" are in the shire town Bennington.<ref>{{cite web |title=Contact Us |url=https://benningtonsheriff.org/contact-bennington-county-sheriff.php |website=Bennington Sheriff's Department |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Court Locations - bennington |url=https://www.vermontjudiciary.org/court-locations?search_api_fulltext=bennington |website=Vermont Judiciary }}</ref>

In 2024, [[Connecticut]], which had not defined their counties for anything but statistical, historical and weather warning purposes since 1960, along with ending the use of county seats in particular, will fully transition with the permission of the [[United States Census Bureau]] to a system of [[Councils of governments in Connecticut|councils of government]] for the purposes of boundary definition and as county equivalents.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Proposed Change to County Equivalents in Connecticut|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/reference/ct_county_equiv_change.pdf|website=US Census Bureau}}</ref>

====South Dakota====
Two counties in [[South Dakota]], [[Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota|Oglala Lakota]] and [[Todd County, South Dakota|Todd]], have their county seat and government services centered in a neighboring county. Their county-level services are provided by [[Fall River County, South Dakota|Fall River County]] and [[Tripp County, South Dakota|Tripp County]], respectively.<ref name=Sdcounties>{{cite web |title=Shannon County, South Dakota |url=https://oglalalakota.sdcounties.org/ |website=Sdcounties.org |access-date=1 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425051054/https://oglalalakota.sdcounties.org/ |archive-date=25 April 2012}}</ref>

====Virginia====
In [[Virginia]], a county seat may be an [[independent city (United States)|independent city]] surrounded by, but not part of, the county of which it is the administrative center; for example, [[Fairfax, Virginia|Fairfax City]] is both the county seat of [[Fairfax County, Virginia]] and completely surrounded by Fairfax County, but the city is politically independent of the county. When the county seat is in the independent city, government offices such as the courthouse may be in the independent city under an agreement, such as in [[Albemarle County, Virginia|Albemarle]], or may in be [[enclave and exclave|enclave]]s of the county surrounded by the independent city, such as in [[Fairfax County, Virginia|Fairfax]]. Others, such as [[Prince William County, Virginia|Prince William]], have the courthouse in an enclave surrounded by the independent city and have the county government, the Board of Supervisors, in a different part of the county, far from the county seat. The following counties have their county seat in an independent city:
*[[Albemarle County, Virginia|Albemarle County]] ([[Charlottesville, Virginia|Charlottesville]])
*[[Alleghany County, Virginia|Alleghany County]] ([[Covington, Virginia|Covington]])
*[[Augusta County, Virginia|Augusta County]] ([[Staunton, Virginia|Staunton]])
*[[Fairfax County, Virginia|Fairfax County]] ([[Fairfax, Virginia|Fairfax]])
*[[Frederick County, Virginia|Frederick County]] ([[Winchester, Virginia|Winchester]])
*[[Greensville County, Virginia|Greensville County]] ([[Emporia, Virginia|Emporia]])
*[[Henry County, Virginia|Henry County]] ([[Martinsville, Virginia|Martinsville]])
*[[James City County, Virginia|James City County]] ([[Williamsburg, Virginia|Williamsburg]])
*[[Prince William County, Virginia|Prince William County]] ([[Manassas, Virginia|Manassas]])
*[[Roanoke County, Virginia|Roanoke County]] ([[Salem, Virginia|Salem]])
*[[Rockbridge County, Virginia|Rockbridge County]] ([[Lexington, Virginia|Lexington]])
*[[Rockingham County, Virginia|Rockingham County]] ([[Harrisonburg, Virginia|Harrisonburg]])
[[Bedford,_Virginia|Bedford]] was an independent city from 1968 to 2013, while also being the county seat of [[Bedford County, Virginia|Bedford County]]. Bedford reverted to an incorporated town, and remains the county seat, though is now part of the county.

===Lists of U.S. county seats by state===
The state with the most counties is Texas, with 254, and the state with the fewest counties is Delaware, with 3.
{| border="0"
|-
|
* [[List of counties in Alabama|Alabama]]
* [[List of counties in Alaska|Alaska]]
* [[List of counties in Arizona|Arizona]]
* [[List of counties in Arkansas|Arkansas]]
* [[List of counties in California|California]]
* [[List of counties in Colorado|Colorado]]
* [[List of counties in Connecticut|Connecticut]]
* [[List of counties in Delaware|Delaware]]
* [[List of counties in Florida|Florida]]
* [[List of counties in Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]
|
* [[List of counties in Hawaii|Hawaii]]
* [[List of counties in Idaho|Idaho]]
* [[List of counties in Illinois|Illinois]]
* [[List of counties in Indiana|Indiana]]
* [[List of counties in Iowa|Iowa]]
* [[List of counties in Kansas|Kansas]]
* [[List of counties in Kentucky|Kentucky]]
* [[List of counties in Louisiana|Louisiana]]
* [[List of counties in Maine|Maine]]
* [[List of counties in Maryland|Maryland]]
|
* [[List of counties in Massachusetts|Massachusetts]]
* [[List of counties in Michigan|Michigan]]
* [[List of counties in Minnesota|Minnesota]]
* [[List of counties in Mississippi|Mississippi]]
* [[List of counties in Missouri|Missouri]]
* [[List of counties in Montana|Montana]]
* [[List of counties in Nebraska|Nebraska]]
* [[List of counties in Nevada|Nevada]]
* [[List of counties in New Hampshire|New Hampshire]]
* [[List of counties in New Jersey|New Jersey]]
|
* [[List of counties in New Mexico|New Mexico]]
* [[List of counties in New York|New York]]
* [[List of counties in North Carolina|North Carolina]]
* [[List of counties in North Dakota|North Dakota]]
* [[List of counties in Ohio|Ohio]]
* [[List of counties in Oklahoma|Oklahoma]]
* [[List of counties in Oregon|Oregon]]
* [[List of counties in Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania]]
* [[List of counties in Rhode Island|Rhode Island]]
* [[List of counties in South Carolina|South Carolina]]
|
* [[List of counties in South Dakota|South Dakota]]
* [[List of counties in Tennessee|Tennessee]]
* [[List of counties in Texas|Texas]]
* [[List of counties in Utah|Utah]]
* [[List of counties in Vermont|Vermont]]
* [[List of counties in Virginia|Virginia]]
* [[List of counties in Washington|Washington]]
* [[List of counties in West Virginia|West Virginia]]
* [[List of counties in Wisconsin|Wisconsin]]
* [[List of counties in Wyoming|Wyoming]]
|}

==See also==
* {{lang|fr|[[Administrative centre|Chef-lieu]]}}, administrative centres in [[Algeria]], [[Belgium]], [[France]], [[Luxembourg]], [[Switzerland]], and [[Tunisia]]
* [[County seat war]], disputes between towns in the formation of the United States 
* [[County town]], administrative centres in [[Ireland]] and the [[United Kingdom]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

==External links==
* [http://www.naco.org National Association of Counties]

[[Category:Counties|Seat]]
[[Category:Capitals of country subdivisions]]