List of counties in Rhode Island
This is a list of the five counties in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Rhode Island has the second lowest number of 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 government is provided by the eight cities and thirty-one towns.[3]
Within Rhode Island, Washington County is often referred to as South County.
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, signaling the start of the American Revolution. 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.[4] 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.
Alphabetical list
| County |
FIPS Code[5] | County Seat[6] (defunct) |
Created [2] |
Origin [7] |
Etymology |
Population (2000) [8] |
Area [8] |
Map |
| Bristol County | 001 | Bristol | 1747 | Created from land gained from Bristol County, Massachusetts after resolution of a boundary dispute between the two colonies. | City of Bristol, England | 50,648 | 45 sq mi (117 km2) |
 |
| Kent County | 003 | East Greenwich | 1750 | Created from part of Providence County. | County of Kent, England | 167,090 | 188 sq mi (487 km2) |
 |
| Newport County | 005 | Newport | 1703 | Formed as Rhode Island County in 1703. Renamed Newport County in 1729 | Town (now city) of Newport, Wales | 85,433 | 314 sq mi (813 km2) |
 |
| Providence County | 007 | Providence | 1703 | Formed in 1703 as Providence Plantations County. Renamed Providence County in 1729 | Divine Providence | 621,602 | 436 sq mi (1,129 km2) |
 |
| Washington County | 009 | Wakefield[2] | 1729 | Formed in 1729 as Kings County from part of Providence Plantations County. Renamed Washington County in 1781. | George Washington, American Revolutionary War general and first President of the USA | 123,546 | 563 sq mi (1,458 km2) |
 |
References
- ↑ "How Many Counties are in Your State?". 2000. http://www.clickandlearn.cc/FreeBlacklineMaps/Counties.htm. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 National Association of Counties. "NACo - Find a county". http://www.naco.org/Template.cfm?Section=Find_a_County&Template=/cffiles/counties/state.cfm&state.cfm&statecode=RI. Retrieved 2007-04-26.
- ↑ "Know Rhode Island". Rhode Island Office of the Secretary of State. http://www.sec.state.ri.us/library/riinfo/riinfo/knowrhode. Retrieved 2007-08-07.
- ↑ "FIPS Publish 6-4". National Institute of Standards and Technology. http://www.itl.nist.gov/fipspubs/fip6-4.htm. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
- ↑ "EPA County FIPS Code Listing". EPA. http://www.epa.gov/enviro/html/codes/ri.html. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
- ↑ "Rhode Island County Map with Administrative Cities". 2006. http://geology.com/county-map/rhode-island.shtml. Retrieved 2007-07-08.
- ↑ "Rhode Island Counties and Towns". 2002-12-19. http://www.rootsweb.com/~rigenweb/counties.html. Retrieved 2007-07-08.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Rhode Island QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau". State & County QuickFacts. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/maps/rhode_island_map.html. Retrieved 2007-04-18.
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