Global InformationList of counties in Rhode Island information
| Counties of Rhode Island | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | State of Rhode Island |
| Number | 5 |
| Populations | 50,255 (Bristol) – 660,615 (Providence) |
| Areas | 24 square miles (62 km2) (Bristol) – 409 square miles (1,060 km2) (Providence) |
| Government |
|
| Subdivisions |
|
This is a list of the five counties in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Rhode Island is tied with Hawaii for having the second-fewest counties of any U.S. state (only Delaware has fewer, with three counties).[1] Although Rhode Island is divided into counties, it does not have any local government at the county level.[2] Instead, local governance is provided by the eight cities and thirty-one towns.[3] Counties in Rhode Island have had no governmental functions since 1846 other than as court administrative and sheriff corrections boundaries which are part of state government.
Within Rhode Island, Washington County is colloquially referred to as South County.[4]
The colony of Rhode Island was established in the 17th century, and was the first of the thirteen original American colonies to declare independence from British rule in 1776, during the American Revolution, and the last to ratify the Constitution. The counties were all established before the Declaration of Independence.[2]
The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code, which is used by the United States government to uniquely identify states and counties, is provided with each entry.[5] Rhode Island's code is 44, which when combined with any county code would be written as 44XXX. The FIPS code for each county links to census data for that county.
- ^ "How Many Counties are in Your State?". 2000. Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
NACowas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Know Rhode Island". Rhode Island Office of the Secretary of State. Retrieved August 7, 2007.
- ^ "About South County". South County History Center.
- ^ "FIPS Publish 6-4". National Institute of Standards and Technology. Archived from the original on September 29, 2013. Retrieved April 11, 2007.