County statistics of the United States
Rank County Land area ( sq mi ) Land area ( km )
1 Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area , Alaska 145,899.69 377,868.5
2 North Slope Borough , Alaska 88.817.12 230,035.3
3 Bethel Census Area , Alaska 40.633.31 105,239.8
4 Northwest Arctic Borough , Alaska 35,898.34 92,976.3
5 Valdez-Cordova Census Area , Alaska 34,319.1 88,886
6 Southeast Fairbanks Census Area , Alaska 24,814.86 64,270.2
7 Matanuska-Susitna Borough , Alaska 24,681.54 63,924.9
8 Lake and Peninsula Borough , Alaska 23,781.96 61,595.0
9 Nome Census Area , Alaska 23,000.91 59,572
10 San Bernardino County , California 20,052.5 51,936
Area -- Nationwide land area extremes
See also : List of the largest counties in the United States by area The largest counties and county-equivalents are organized boroughs and the census areas of Alaska with the top two being Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area ( 145,504.79 sq mi or 376,855.7 km2 ) and North Slope Borough ( 88,695.41 sq mi or 229,720.1 km2 ) . The smallest counties and county equivalents ( in the 50 states ) are the independent cities of Virginia with the extreme being Falls Church ( 2.00 sq mi or 5.2 km2 ) . [ 9 ] If the U.S. territories are included , the smallest county-equivalent is Kingman Reef , with a land area of 0.01 square miles ( 0.03 km2 ) [ 10 ] . The following two tables exclude county-equivalents : Largest counties by land area nationwide ( excluding county-equivalents ) [ 9 ] Rank County Land area ( sq mi ) Land area ( km ) 1 San Bernardino County , California 20,056.94 51,947.24 2 Coconino County , Arizona 18,618.89 48,222.70 3 Nye County , Nevada 18,181.92 47,090.96 4 Elko County , Nevada 17,169.83 44,469.66 5 Mohave County , Arizona 13,311.08 34,475.54 6 Apache County , Arizona 11,197.52 29,001.44 7 Lincoln County , Nevada 10,633.20 27,539.86 8 Sweetwater County , Wyoming 10,426.65 27,004.90 9 Inyo County , California 10,180.88 26,368.36 10 Harney County , Oregon 10,133.17 26,244.79 Smallest counties by land area nationwide ( excluding county-equivalents ) [ 9 ] Rank County Land area ( sq mi ) Land area ( km ) 1 Kalawao County , Hawaii 11.99 31.05 2 New York County , New York 22.83 59.13 3 Bristol County , Rhode Island 24.16 62.57 4 Arlington County , Virginia 25.97 67.26 5 Broomfield County , Colorado 33.03 85.55 6 Bronx County , New York 42.10 109.04 7 Nantucket County , Massachusetts 44.97 116.47 8 Hudson County , New Jersey 46.19 119.63 9 San Francisco County , California 46.87 121.39 10 Suffolk County , Massachusetts 58.15 150.61
In 48 of the 50 states of the United States, the county is used for the level of local government immediately below the state itself. Louisiana uses parishes, and Alaska uses boroughs. In several states in New England, some or all counties within states have no governments of their own; the counties continue to exist as legal entities, however, and are used by states for some administrative functions and by the United States Census bureau for statistical analysis. There are 3,242 counties and county equivalent administrative units in total, including the District of Columbia and 100 county-equivalents in the U.S. territories. There are 41 independent cities in the United States. In Virginia, any municipality that is incorporated as a city legally becomes independent of any county. Where indicated, the statistics below do not include Virginia's 38 independent cities. In Alaska, most of the land area of the state has no county-level government. Those parts of the state are divided by the United States Census Bureau into census areas, which are not the same as boroughs. The state's largest statistical division by area is the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, which is larger than any of the state's boroughs. Although Anchorage is called a municipality, it is considered a consolidated city and borough. There are 100 county-equivalents in the territories of the United States: they are the 3 districts and 2 atolls of American Samoa, all of Guam (Guam as one single county-equivalent), the 4 municipalities in the Northern Mariana Islands, the 78 municipalities of Puerto Rico, the 3 main islands of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the 9 islands in the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands.