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Acivil township is a widely used unit oflocal government in the United States that is subordinate to acounty, most often in the northern and midwestern parts of the country. The termtown is used inNew England,New York, as well asWisconsin to refer to the equivalent of the civil township in these states;Minnesota uses "town" officially but often uses it and "township" interchangeably. Specific responsibilities and the degree ofautonomy vary in eachstate. Civil townships are distinct fromsurvey townships, but in states that have both, the boundaries often coincide, especially in Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois, and may completely geographically subdivide a county. TheU.S. Census Bureau classifies civil townships asminor civil divisions. Currently, there are 20 states with civil townships, including Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia (in certain areas).
Township functions are generally overseen by a governing board (the name varies from state to state) and a clerk, trustee, or mayor (inNew Jersey and themetro townships ofUtah). Township officers frequently includejustice of the peace,road commissioner,assessor, andconstable, in addition tosurveyor. In the 20th century, many townships also added a townshipadministrator orsupervisor to the officers as anexecutive for the board. In some cases, townships run locallibraries,senior citizen services, youth services,disabled citizen services, andcemetery services, besides emergency assistance. In some states, a township and a municipality that is coterminous with that township may wholly or partiallyconsolidate their operations.
Depending on the state, the township government has varying degrees of authority.
In theUpper Midwestern states near theGreat Lakes, civil townships (known inMichigan as general law townships[1] and in Wisconsin as towns), are often, but not always, overlaid on survey townships. The degree to which these townships are functioning governmental entities varies from state to state and in some cases even within a state. For example, townships in the northern part ofIllinois are active in providing public services—such as road maintenance, after-school care, and senior services—whereas townships in southern Illinois frequently delegate these services to the county. Most townships in Illinois also provide services such as snow removal, senior transportation, and emergency services to households residing in unincorporated parts of the county. The townships in Illinois each have a township board, whose board members were formerly calledtownship trustees, and a single township supervisor. In contrast, civil townships inIndiana are operated in a relatively consistent manner statewide and tend to be well organized, with each served by a singletownship trustee and a three-member board.
Civil townships in these states are generally notincorporated, and nearby cities mayannex land in adjoining townships with relative ease. In Michigan, however, general law townships are corporate entities (e.g. they can be the subject of lawsuits),[2] and some can become reformulated ascharter townships, a status intended to protect against annexation from nearby municipalities and which grants the township somehome rule powers similar to cities. InWisconsin, civil townships are known as "towns" rather than townships, but they function essentially the same as in neighboring states. InMinnesota, state statute refers to such entities as towns yet requires them to have a name in the form "Name Township".[citation needed] In both documents and conversation, "town" and "township" are used interchangeably. Minnesota townships can be eitherNon-Urban orUrban (giving the township government greater power), but this is not reflected in the township's name.[3] Similarly, inOhio, some townships qualify forurban township status, affording limited home rule government. A city or village is overlaid onto a township unless it withdraws by establishing apaper township. Where the paper township does not extend to the city limits, property owners pay taxes for both the township and municipality,[4] though these overlaps are sometimes overlooked by mistake.[5] Ten other states also allow townships and municipalities to overlap.[6]
InKansas, some civil townships provide services such as road maintenance and fire protection services not provided by the county.
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InNew England andNew York, states are generally subdivided into towns and cities, which are municipalities that provide most local services. With the exception of a few remote areas ofNew Hampshire andVermont and about half ofMaine, all of New England lies within the borders of an incorporated municipality. New England has counties, though in southern New England, they are strictly used as dividing lines for judicial systems and statistical purposes, while in northern New England, they often handle other limited functions, such as law enforcement, education and some public facilities in addition to judicial systems. New England also hascities, most of which are towns whose residents have voted to replace the town meeting form of government with a city form. Maine has a third type of township called aplantation, which previously existed in other New England states, that has more limited self-governance than other New England towns.
In portions of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, county subdivisions that are not incorporated are occasionally called townships, or by other terms such as "gore", "grant", "location", or "purchase".
TheState of New York is subdivided into counties, which are subdivided into cities and towns—except forNew York City, whose five coextensive counties for state government purposes are municipal boroughs for city government purposes (Bronx County/The Bronx,Kings County/Brooklyn,New York County/Manhattan,Queens County/Queens, andRichmond County/Staten Island). As in New England, the term "town" equates to "township" in most other states. Additionally, New Yorkers colloquially use the term "township" to mean "town". Townships andhamlets are unincorporated areas within a town or towns. Because towns are administrative divisions of a county, town boundaries cannot cross county lines. In addition to administrative subdivisions, New York State also hascities. Cities in New York are fully autonomous municipal corporations and, thus, are able to cross county lines and whose governments fully independent of county control.
Finally, New York and Vermont also have villages, which are smaller communities lying within the boundaries of a town that provide additional government services not provided by their parent town, such as sewage, fire, law enforcement, garbage collection, public facilities, water and building code enforcement. In Vermont, most current cities were actually former villages that broke off from their parent town. Connecticut hasboroughs and non-consolidated cities, although these communities are not as autonomous as villages in New York and Vermont, and today there are only eight non-consolidated boroughs (plus the community ofGroton Long Point) and one non-consolidated city.
APennsylvania township is a unit of local government, responsible for services such as police departments, local road and streetmaintenance. It acts the same as a city orborough. Townships were established based on convenient geographical boundaries and vary in size from six to fifty-two square miles (10–135 km2).
ANew Jersey township is similar, in that it is a form of municipal government equal in status to avillage,town,borough, orcity, and provides similar services to a Pennsylvania township, and varies in size from one-tenth (Shrewsbury Twp.) to one hundred (Jackson Twp.) square miles.
In theSouthern U.S., outside cities and towns there is generally no local government other than the county.
Arkansas townships are the divisions of a county. Each township includes unincorporated areas; some may have incorporated cities or towns within part of their boundaries. Arkansas townships have limited purposes in modern times. However, theU.S. census does list Arkansas population based on townships (sometimes referred to as "county subdivisions" or "minor civil divisions"). Townships are also of value for historical purposes in terms of genealogical research. Each town or city is within one or more townships in an Arkansas county based on census maps and publications.[7]
North Carolina is no exception to that rule, but it does have townships as minor geographical subdivisions of counties, including both unincorporated territory and also land within the bounds of incorporated cities and towns (as well as theextraterritorial jurisdiction of municipalities). Every county is divided into townships as mandated since theNorth Carolina Constitution of 1868. Some urbanized counties such asMecklenburg County (Charlotte) now number their townships (e.g. "Township 12") rather than using names. Townships all over the state used to have some official organization and duties but now are only consideredceremonial divisions of each county. Township names are still used quite extensively at the county government level in North Carolina as a way of determining and dividing up areas for administrative purposes; primarily for collecting county taxes, determining fire districts (e.g.Lebanon Township inDurham County gives its name to theLebanon Volunteer Fire Department), for real estate purposes such as categorizing land deeds,land surveys and other real estate documents, and for voter registration purposes.[citation needed] In most areas of North Carolina that are outside any municipal limit (outside cities or towns), townships are used to determine voter polling places, and in most instances county election boards divide up their voter precincts by township.[citation needed] However, there is no government per se at the township level in North Carolina, and there are no elected or appointed offices associated with townships.
Between 2015 and 2024,Utah had a form of civil township called ametro township. Each metro township had a mayor,[8] council, and a budget, and could not be annexed without its permission.[9] Its powers of taxation were limited, and it had to contract with other municipalities or municipal shared-service districts[10] for most municipal services like police.[11] In May 2024 the five metro townships, all located inSalt Lake County, were incorporated as a cities or towns as a result of Utah's House Bill 35.[12]
As of 2012, there were 16,360 organized town or township governments in the following 21 states:[13]
There were 29 states without organized town or township governments as of 2012:[13]
The provinces ofEastern Canada have, or have had, divisions that are analogous to the townships of the United States.
Ontario andQuebec continue to have townships that subdivide their respective counties.
Local government was introduced intoNova Scotia (which at the time also included themaritime provinces ofNew Brunswick andPrince Edward Island) in 1749 in the form of townships controlled by acourt of quarter sessions, a system that had characterized local government in Britain and Virginia. This court had both administrative and judicial functions, and took over most responsibilities of local government, including the appointment of necessary officers. A form of direct democracy was introduced into the townships by settlers from New England in 1760 with the help of a provincial statute. However, the statute wasdisallowed by the King in 1761, and direct democracy was replaced in the townships that had adopted it by the quarter sessions. Acts in 1855 and 1856 provided for the incorporation of self-governing townships, but onlyYarmouth partook in incorporating, and abandoned the prospect after three years. These acts were repealed in 1879, and townships were replaced in the third quarter of the 19th century by self-governing municipalities.[28]
Lynda Bowers, Lafayette Township Trustee, noted that we already have property that is dual citizenship and they pay taxes in 2 places. There isChippewa Lake inLafayette Township,Westfield Village inWestfield Township andLodi inHarrisville Township.