Census of Governments, 1997: Government Organization

The United States Census Bureau conducts a Census of Governments every five years -- in years ending in "2" or "7" -- to collect information about governments in the United States. The Government Organization branch of the 1997 Census of Governments describes the organization and activities of local governments. The 1997 Local Government Directory Survey covered all county, municipal, town or township, school district, special district governments, school systems, and education service agencies that met the Census Bureau criteria for independent governments. The counts of local governments reflect those in operation in June 1997. This collection includes eight parts, each including information regarding a different type of government: (1) county governments, (2) municipal governments, (3) township governments, (4) special district governments, (5) school district governments, (6) state dependent school systems, (7) local dependent school systems, and (8) education service agencies. The data include information on various codes used to identify the government unit, government name, population in 1996 (or enrollment in 1996 for data collected from schools), and government functions.