About

Purpose

The Census of Governments identifies the scope and nature of the nation's state and local government sector; provides authoritative benchmark figures of public finance and public employment; classifies local government organizations, powers, and activities; and measures federal, state, and local fiscal relationships.

The United States Code, Title 13, Section 161, requires that this census be taken.

Coverage

All state and local governments in the United States. Local governments include:

  • counties
  • cities
  • townships
  • special districts (such as water districts, fire districts, library districts, mosquito abatement districts, and so on)
  • school districts

Content

Data are obtained about how governments are organized, how many people they employ and payroll amounts, and the finances of governments.

Government organization data include:

  • the number of governments by state and type
  • descriptions of the responsibilities and authority of local governments in each state
  • a list of all local governments in the United States, with limited reference information 

Finance and employment data are the same as in comparable annual surveys and include revenues, expenditures, debt, assets, number of employees (by full-time and part-time status), payroll, and benefits for both state and local governments. 

Frequency

Every five years since 1957, for years ending in '2' and '7.' 

Data Products

Public releases include data as well as summary reports. Data users should reference annual surveys and programs for details. 

Uses

Two federal statistical agencies–the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Federal Reserve Board–use the data to measure the nation's economic and financial performance. State and local governments use the data to develop programs and budgets, assess financial conditions, and perform comparative analyses.

In addition, analysts, economists, market specialists, and researchers need these data to measure the changing characteristics of the government sector of the economy and to conduct public policy research. Journalists report on, and teachers and students learn about, their governments' activities using our data. Internally, the Census Bureau uses these data as a benchmark for all our non-census year samples.

Page Last Revised - June 18, 2025