Governmental divisions of U.S. counties, such as civil townships
Aminor civil division (MCD) is a term used by theUnited States Census Bureau for primarygovernmental and/oradministrative divisions of acounty or county-equivalent, typically a municipal government such as a city, town, orcivil township. MCDs are used for statistical purposes by the Census Bureau, and do not necessarily represent the primary form of local government. They range from non-governing geographical survey areas to municipalities with weak or strong powers of self-government. Some states with large unincorporated areas give substantial powers to counties; others have smaller or larger incorporated entities with governmental powers that are smaller than the MCD level chosen by the Census.
As of 2010, MCDs exist in 29 states, theDistrict of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. In all other states where state-defined entities are not used for census purposes (mostly in the South and the West), the Census Bureau designatesCensus County Divisions (CCDs). For several decennial censuses prior to the2010 census, 28 states used MCDs, but in 2008, Tennessee changed from CCDs to MCDs, bringing the total number of MCD states to 29.[1]
In states that use MCDs, when any land or water is not covered by a state-defined MCD, the Census Bureau creates additional entities asunorganized territories, that it treats as equivalent to MCDs for statistical purposes. Because MCDs are used to divide up counties, when a MCD-level municipality or unallocated territory or water spans county boundaries, that entity's boundaries are used to create multiple MCDs, one for each county. For water areas unallocated to any MCD, the Census Bureau assigns a defaultFIPS county subdivision code of 00000 and anANSI code of eight zeroes.[1] This typically happens when state and county boundaries extend into the ocean orGreat Lakes, but MCDs are not defined by the state for the unoccupied water. (For the ocean boundary of state vs. federal responsibility, seeTidelands.)
Connecticut - towns and consolidated city-towns, unorganized water inLong Island Sound.Groton is the only city not consolidated with a town.Naugatuck is the only borough coterminous with a town.
District of Columbia - considered an undivided equivalent of state, county, and MCD.
Guam - villages (technically election districts,[2] but these are currently all co-terminous). Some reports treat villages as county equivalents.[3]
Illinois - townships in 85 counties, election precincts in 17 counties, unorganized water inLake Michigan.Chicago spans two counties and is thus two separate MCDs.
Indiana - townships, one unorganized territory (Camp Atterbury), unorganized water in Lake Michigan
Iowa - townships, cities, one unorganized water area (reservoir inPolk County). The city ofTabor spans two counties and constitutes two MCDs.
South Dakota - cities, townships, unorganized territories
Tennessee - county commissioner districts (non-governing)
US Virgin Islands - subdistricts (created by the territorial government explicitly for census purposes)
Vermont - cities, towns (governing except 5 unincorporated), and fourgores (one of which is known asWarner's Grant)
Virginia - independent cities (each of which is also a county equivalent), districts (used for election of county supervisors, known as magisterial districts or election districts);Arlington County is a single MCD
Wisconsin - towns (mostly governing, consolidated with county inMenominee County), cities, villages, unorganized water
The United States also performs a census for theRepublic of Palau, which has an agreement offree association. The U.S. Census considers all of Palau a county equivalent, and uses itsstates (formerly known as municipalities) as MCDs.[4][failed verification]
