This report is part of a series designed to provide information on the structure, function, employment, and finances of the United States’ 90,106 state and local governments. The U.S. Census Bureau produces data every 5 years as a part of the Census of Governments in years ending in “2” and “7.” Between censuses, comparable employment and financial activity data are produced from intercensal quarterly and annual sample surveys.

The estimates in this report present the data collected as part of the 2012 Census of Governments summarizing the structure and organization of state and local governments. The Employment and Finance components of the Census of Governments are released as separate products. Specifically, the data in this report are a complete enumeration of all state and local governments that were in existence on June 30, 2012. For Census Bureau purposes, a government is defined as an organized entity, which in addition to having governmental character, has sufficient discretion in the management of its own affairs to distinguish it as separate from the administrative structure of any other governmental unit.