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Types of U.S. governments and public systems in 2025

The official Census count of general-purpose governments, special districts, school systems, and public pension systems.

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What this chart says

The 2025 Census inventory includes 40,199 special districts—more than any other single category.

How to read it

Uses the category totals published in Election.org's verified import of every tab in the Census Bureau 2025 Government Units Listing.

Important limits

  • The inventory establishes public entities, not whether each entity has an elected board or which people currently serve.
  • Public pension systems are included in the 97,241-record release but are not themselves counted as governments by the Census government-and-school-system subtotal.
The data behind the view

Every plotted value.

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Types of U.S. governments and public systems in 2025: source values used by Election.org
GroupEntities
Special districts40,199
General-purpose governments38,704
Independent school districts12,535
Public pension systems4,485
Dependent school systems1,318
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