The nation's 3,069 county governments provide the essential building blocks to create healthy, vibrant and safe communities. This includes supporting and maintaining key public infrastructure, transportation and economic development assets; creating and sustaining a skilled workforce to meet the needs of private industry; ensuring public health and public safety needs to protect the public; and implementing a broad portfolio of federal, state and local programs in a cost-effective and accountable manner.
Counties, where most Americans live, matter because 2,914 counties own a jail or participate in a regional jail and admitted nearly 12 million people each year. Counties provide public health services, including flu shots and restaurant inspections through 1,947 health departments. Counties own and maintain 44 percent of America's roadways and 228,026 bridges and almost one third of the nation's transit systems and airports. Counties respond to all disasters and in most cases without assistance from other levels of governments. Counties run the nation's polling places to keep our democracy strong. Counties own 964 hospitals and spend $68 billion on health care services annually.