United States Counties that I have Visited

1,666 Counties Visited = 53.0% of Counties in the United States

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Counties in the United States that I have Visited

Image courtesy of: Mob Rule

On August 14, 2002, I crossed the Red River of the North on Interstate 94 to enter Fargo, North Dakota. Concurrently I arrived at my 50th and final state in the United States. With that goal successfully attained I decided to focus on the next level of achievement: the counties and county-equivalents. I thought I'd done pretty well until I plotted it on a map and demonstrated to myself how little of the country I'd actually seen. These results are pretty sparse compared to some people's county "life lists" that I have seen, but at least it's a reasonable start.

Progress by State

		State              Total Counties   Counties Visited	Percent Visited
			
		Alabama                  67                 27               40.3%
		Alaska                   30                  7               23.3%
		Arizona                  15                 15              100.0%
		Arkansas                 75                 19               25.3%
		California               58                 25               43.1%
		Colorado                 64                 47               73.4%
		Connecticut               9                  9              100.0%
		Delaware                  3                  3              100.0%
		Florida                  67                 43               64.2%
		Georgia                 159                 78               49.1%
		Hawaii                    5                  2               40.0%
		Idaho                    44                  5               11.4%
		Illinois                102                 54               52.9%
		Indiana                  92                 48               52.2%
		Iowa                     99                 32               32.3%
		Kansas                  105                 17               16.2%
		Kentucky                120                 87               72.5%
		Louisiana                64                 32               50.0%
		Maine                    16                 13               81.3%
		Maryland                 24                 24              100.0%
		Massachusetts            14                 14              100.0%
		Michigan                 75                 69               90.4%
		Minnesota                87                 23               26.4%
		Mississippi              82                 31               37.8%
		Missouri                115                 42               36.5%
		Montana                  56                  4                7.1%
		Nebraska                 93                 29               31.2%
		Nevada                   17                  6               35.3%
		New Hampshire            10                 10              100.0%
		New Jersey               21                 21              100.0%
		New Mexico               33                 22               66.7%
		New York                 62                 51               82.3%
		North Carolina          100                 90               90.0%
		North Dakota             53                  6               11.3%
		Ohio                     88                 58               65.9%
		Oklahoma                 77                  5                6.5%
		Oregon                   36                 23               63.9%
		Pennsylvania             67                 67              100.0%
		Rhode Island              5                  5              100.0%
		South Carolina           46                 31               67.4%
		South Dakota             66                 18               27.3%
		Tennessee                95                 54               56.8%
		Texas                   254                 69               27.2%
		Utah                     29                 22               75.9%
		Vermont                  14                 14              100.0%
		Virginia                133                133              100.0%
		Washington               39                 23               59.0%
		West Virginia            55                 55              100.0%
		Wisconsin                72                 59               81.9%
		Wyoming                  23                 18               78.3%
			
		District of Columbia      1                  1              100.0%

		==================================================================

		UNITED STATES          3144               1666              53.0%

		

Are there really 3144 counties in the United States?

There were 3,144 counties and county-equivalent administrative units listed by the United States Bureau of the Census as of 2023. In Alaska they are called boroughs and in Louisiana they are called parishes. Examples of county-equivalent administrative units are independent cities (mainly in Virginia, but also a few others), Connecticut's Councils of Government, several named census areas that are part of the larger Unorganized Borough in Alaska, and the District of Columbia which is neither a county nor a state. However for purposes of the Census, these are all considered the equivalent of counties. This can get complicated so if this topic interests you, check out Wikipedia's "County (United States)" page for a technical discussion.

Do Counties change?

Counties and county-equivalents do change, although not nearly as frequently as when the United States was young and growing. Here are a few fairly recent examples: So even today the "number of counties" is a moving target.