What is a Local Unit of Government?

Part III of HR3 defines "local unit of government" as a county, township, city or political subdivision of a county, township, or city, that is a unit of local government as determined by the Secretary of Commerce for general statistical purposes. The District of Columbia and recognized governing bodies of Indian tribes and Alaskan Native villages are also defined as local units of governments. This HR3 language basically refers to the Census Bureau definition of unit of general purpose local government.

We have provided, in spreadsheet form, a listing of the local units of government in each state on the state data page. The spreadsheets include four pieces of information: the locality name, the locality type (e.g., city, county, township), the county code, and the name of the county (for county governments, the name of the locality and the name of the county will be the same. For governments such as cities and towns, the county code and name identify the county in which the city or town is located).

Please keep in mind that the spreadsheets list all of the local units of government in a particular state, regardless of whether these units have crime or expenditure data. Many of these governments will have no expenditures for crime and/or Part I violent crimes, and many more would not surpass the $10,000 minimum allocation for funding under JABG.