Lake of the Woods County, Minnesota, is the northernmost county in the lower 48 states. Technically, since Alaska’s county equivalents are known as boroughs, Lake of the Woods is the northernmost county located anywhere in U.S. territory. The county contains the Northwest Angle, which is the northernmost point of land found in the contiguous United States.

Norfolk County was established by English settlers in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1643 alongside Essex, Middlesex, and Suffolk counties. In the centuries since, Norfolk has earned the nickname the “County of Presidents.” It was the birthplace of four U.S. Commanders in Chief: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, John F. Kennedy, and George H. W. Bush.

On September 27, 1777, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, served as capital of the United States. On that day, the Continental Congress held an official legislative session inside the Lancaster County Courthouse. Though Lancaster County’s reign as the epicenter of the U.S. was brief, it remains forever enshrined as an integral part of our country’s early history.

While Los Angeles County has the most total Native American residents of any U.S. county, South Dakota’s Oglala Lakota County contains the highest population percentage of Native Americans residents with 93.9%. Statewide, Alaska has the highest percentage of Native American residents, as they make up around 20% of Alaska’s total population.

Barton County’s namesake is Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross. It’s one of the few counties in the entire country to be named after a woman. Another is Dare County, North Carolina, which is named after Virginia Dare, the first child with British parents to be born in the New World.

As the westernmost county in the Oklahoma Panhandle, Cimarron County is the only American county to border five states: Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. It’s home to Black Mesa, the highest point in Oklahoma and where numerous dinosaur fossils have been discovered. It’s also where Kenton is located — the only Oklahoma community that observes Mountain Time.

Home to nearly 2.7 million people, Miami-Dade is larger in area than Rhode Island and Delaware and encompasses the Miami metropolis. One-third of Miami-Dade is also located in Everglades National Park, to the west of downtown Miami. To the east, Miami-Dade is bordered by Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

There are five boroughs that make up New York City, each of which is represented by an individual county. Manhattan is in New York County, Queens is part of Queens County, the Bronx is in the Bronx County, Brooklyn belongs to Kings County, and Staten Island is in Richmond County. Columbia County is located further north of New York City.

This Washington, D.C. suburb has a median household income of over $142,000 — a $31,000 difference over runner-up Stafford County, Virginia. The county first saw its wealth boom in the 1960s, when Washington Dulles International Airport opened, and today it's home to prolific tech and defense companies like Raytheon Technologies and Northup Grumman.

The top four most densely populated counties in the United States are all located in New York City — the counties representing the boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens. Ranking fifth on the list is the City and County of San Francisco, California, which has a whopping 16,634.37 residents per square mile.

Cook County is home to the third-most populous city in the U.S. — Chicago. The county was created in 1831, when it contained only around 100 residents. Today, the county is home to over 5 million people. Cook County is named after Daniel Pope Cook, who served as Illinois’ first attorney general as well as the state’s second congressman.

On November 15, 2001, Broomfield County, Colorado, was created from parts of Adams, Boulder, Jefferson, and Weld counties. Prior to then, Broomfield was the only city in Colorado to partially lie in four different counties, causing great confusion. Three years after the initial amendment passed, Broomfield County finally became Colorado’s 64th county and the newest in both the state and nation.

In 2019, James City County in Virginia celebrated the 400th anniversary of its first legislative assembly in 1619, which effectively set the groundwork for counties today. In 1634, Britain created eight shires (counties) in the colony of Virginia. Today, Northampton County in Virginia possesses the longest continuous county court records, dating back to 1632.

Prior to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Louisiana was under alternating French and Spanish rule with heavy Roman Catholic influence. The then-territory’s local boundaries generally coincided with church parishes, so the legislature decided to adopt the term in 1807. Louisiana achieved statehood in 1812, and the word “parish” began to appear on U.S. maps in 1816.

2022 population estimates put the number of residents in Texas’ Loving County at just 51 people — making it the smallest county in the country (an honor which was previously held by Kalawao County on the island of Molokai in Hawaii). Loving County is located in West Texas near the New Mexico border.

With 254 counties, Texas has the most counties of any state by a wide margin. After Texas, Georgia is next on the list with 159 counties. Georgia’s most populous county is Fulton County, which contains the capital city of Atlanta. Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, and North Carolina all also have total county numbers in the triple digits.

Washington County is the most common name in the entire U.S., lending its name to 31 separate counties. Over 2.5 million Americans live in a county named after the first President, with the largest population in Oregon. Curiously, there’s no Washington County in the state of Washington.

Alaska is home to the nine largest American counties (known locally as boroughs). No U.S. county is bigger than 145,889.69-square-mile Yukon-Koyukuk. Yukon-Koyukuk is also the country’s least densely populated region, with just 0.03 residents per square mile. The only non-Alaskan county to make the top 10 is San Bernardino County in California, at 20,052.5 square miles.

With just three counties, Delaware has the fewest in the nation, just ahead of Hawaii and Rhode Island, which have five each. The state with the most counties is Texas, with a whopping 254. Overall, there are a total of 3,243 counties and county-equivalents in the United States, including 100 county-equivalents in U.S. territories.

With 9.8 million residents, Los Angeles County is the nation’s largest county, followed by Cook County with 5.2 million Illinoisans. Despite its impressive population size, Los Angeles County also experienced the largest numerical loss in 2021, decreasing by 145,663 residents. L.A. County’s current population estimates are down from an excess of 10 million residents two years prior.