Time until next new county

[gerritcole]

The newest county in the continental USA is brromfield co in 2001, Alaska had two country equivalents in 2019, when will the next new one be? You’d think it’d come up eventually as demographics change. La county for example should be divided for better governance

[ProgressiveModerate]

Another I would add is CT which in 2022 the census switched from using the state's counties to regions to collect data.

Honestly possibly not for a while; counties are just so engrained in how many systems are organized and governments set up it's harder to change than before. One possibility is if there is an effort on some of these western states to split up these mega-counties - we saw AZ Rs propose breaking up Maricopa for instance but that was seen as partisan and hence is unlikely to become reality anytime soon.

I could also see AK reconfiguring some Boroughs again, especially if new development spawns up somewhere.

Maybe in a place like ID, Rs could try to break off more Conservative parts of Ada County if it starts leaning D countywide.

[Sol]

There was a somewhat serious movement for separating out northern Fulton County in the early 00s; it might have passed except it would require deleting a county elsewhere.

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

There was a somewhat serious movement for separating out northern Fulton County in the early 00s; it might have passed except it would require deleting a county elsewhere.

Interestingly until 1931 it was its own county, Milton County

[Arizona Iced Tea]

Does anyone know what the newest non Hawaii/Alaska/Texas County is and when it was made?

[ProgressiveModerate]

Does anyone know what the newest non Hawaii/Alaska/Texas County is and when it was made?

Broomfield County, CO in 2000

[Schiff for Senate]

Does anyone know what the newest non Hawaii/Alaska/Texas County is and when it was made?

Broomfield County, CO in 2000

Tbh I wouldn't fully count it. It's a tiny, oddly-shaped, consolidated city-county, so while it technically counts, it's not what people usually think of when they imagine "county."

Excluding Broomfield, it'd be La Paz County in western Arizona.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Connecticut got new county equivalents officially recognized by the Census in 2022.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Councils_of_governments_in_Connecticut

[gerritcole]

There was a somewhat serious movement for separating out northern Fulton County in the early 00s; it might have passed except it would require deleting a county elsewhere.

Interestingly until 1931 it was its own county, Milton County

I remember reading modern Milton would be less dem than rump Fulton county and perhaps would have acted as a more typical Atlanta suburb county like Gwinnett or Cobb

[Del Tachi]

Likelier that we start seeing low population county duos (i.e., Loving-Winkler, TX; Issaquena-Sharkey, MS) combining.

[Oryxslayer]

Likelier that we start seeing low population county duos (i.e., Loving-Winkler, TX; Issaquena-Sharkey, MS) combining.

Maybe in the distant future if resource coordination/government services issues take precedence over petty politics. But right now those Texas counties offer a key reason why consolidation hasn't taken hold. The small population and doorstep politics inherent in such localities means things end up as true popularity contests. I forget which of the two, but one of those Texas counties has been a fief for various families for a while now, with the government being run through electoral nepotism. These people are just as reluctant to give up their privileges as the more well known NJ bosses or or IL patrons.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

There was a somewhat serious movement for separating out northern Fulton County in the early 00s; it might have passed except it would require deleting a county elsewhere.

Interestingly until 1931 it was its own county, Milton County

I remember reading modern Milton would be less dem than rump Fulton county and perhaps would have acted as a more typical Atlanta suburb county like Gwinnett or Cobb

Makes sense given the geography.

[GeorgiaModerate]

In fact, Fulton County was glommed together from 3+ counties for financial reasons during the Great Depression! In addition to the original Fulton in the middle, it picked up Milton County to the north, Campbell County to the south, the city of Roswell from Cobb, and a narrow strip from Dekalb to make it all contiguous.

[omar04]

Likelier that we start seeing low population county duos (i.e., Loving-Winkler, TX; Issaquena-Sharkey, MS) combining.

Maybe in the distant future if resource coordination/government services issues take precedence over petty politics. But right now those Texas counties offer a key reason why consolidation hasn't taken hold. The small population and doorstep politics inherent in such localities means things end up as true popularity contests. I forget which of the two, but one of those Texas counties has been a fief for various families for a while now, with the government being run through electoral nepotism. These people are just as reluctant to give up their privileges as the more well known NJ bosses or or IL patrons.

I think this is Loving County.

[NYDem]

Does anyone know what the newest non Hawaii/Alaska/Texas County is and when it was made?

Broomfield County, CO in 2000

Tbh I wouldn't fully count it. It's a tiny, oddly-shaped, consolidated city-county, so while it technically counts, it's not what people usually think of when they imagine "county."

Excluding Broomfield, it'd be La Paz County in western Arizona.

There’s also Bullfrog County, Nevada, which was created in 1987 and dissolved in 1989.

[Schiff for Senate]

Does anyone know what the newest non Hawaii/Alaska/Texas County is and when it was made?

Broomfield County, CO in 2000

Tbh I wouldn't fully count it. It's a tiny, oddly-shaped, consolidated city-county, so while it technically counts, it's not what people usually think of when they imagine "county."

Excluding Broomfield, it'd be La Paz County in western Arizona.

There’s also Bullfrog County, Nevada, which was created in 1987 and dissolved in 1989.

I just ran a search on Wikipedia, and I must say, it's quite a cool story (if ultimately anticlimatic).

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Perhaps a part of Maricopa County a possibility?  I could see Republicans in part of it wanting to split off now that the county is starting to tilt toward Dems.  Also, LaPaz County is the second newest county in the US, before Broomfield.

[muon2]

There is a proposal for Xunaa Borough to be created in the parts of unorganized AK centered on the city of Hoonah. It would include Glacier Bay NP. The petition has been filed with the AK Boundary Commission and the comment period has closed. There will be brief, hearings, and a preliminary report, leading to a final report this fall. If approved it becomes a new borough and the Census Bureau and state will have to reconfigure what is now the Hoonah-Angoon Census Area (which serves as a county-equivalent for federal purposes).

The most recent changes to federal county-equivalents were the previously mentioned change from 8 counties to 9 planning regions in CT in 2022, and the division of the Valdez-Cordova Census Area into the Chugach CA and the Copper River CA in 2019.

[Heisenberg]

Perhaps a part of Maricopa County a possibility?  I could see Republicans in part of it wanting to split off now that the county is starting to tilt toward Dems.  Also, LaPaz County is the second newest county in the US, before Broomfield.

Political implications aside, splitting Maricopa would make sense because of how populated and spread out the county has become. It would make it easier to count votes (this was brought up last presidential election), and allow better representation (i.e., Phoenix proper doesn't outvote the suburbs or vice-versa) at the County level. I think splitting into 4 counties is too much, but cutting the eastern suburbs into their own county is a good idea.

[DrScholl]

Not anytime soon, it's too expensive for one reason. La Paz County, Arizona had to rely on state money from the start because it had no tax base. Even for counties that do have the tax base the residents most likely wouldn't want to see increases in taxes to pay for the establishment of county services (police, fire, etc.). The more conservative part of Santa Barbara County here in California attempted a split but it was voted down with something like 80% of the vote.

[politicallefty]

Does anyone know what the newest non Hawaii/Alaska/Texas County is and when it was made?

Broomfield County, CO in 2000

Tbh I wouldn't fully count it. It's a tiny, oddly-shaped, consolidated city-county, so while it technically counts, it's not what people usually think of when they imagine "county."

Excluding Broomfield, it'd be La Paz County in western Arizona.

There’s also Bullfrog County, Nevada, which was created in 1987 and dissolved in 1989.

Is that all since we've had 50 states?

The only other mergers I could find after the Fulton-Milton-Campbell, Georgia merger were some mergers in South Dakota (three separate incidences: 1943, 1953, and 1979). There are also some changes in Virginia, but that's weird with the independent cities.

[mileslunn]

Does eliminated count?  Kalawao county, Hawaii likely disappears in next 20 years as is an ex leper colony where no new people can move to, but those there can live remaining lives and it was late 60s they banned new people moving so people living there must be getting pretty old.  Once last person dies there I suspect it gets dissolved.  For elections I suspect they may not include in future elections within a decade just to keep vote secrecy since if number of residents too small it would be known who voted what.  I believe most states with precincts combine with others if too few votes to maintain privacy.

As for new ones, that is hard to say but lots of possibilities.  California has lots of really large ones not just in area but population too so splitting some of those would make sense.  Nevada & Arizona have large ones too but most asides largest metro areas are fairly sparsely populated so makes less sense to split them.