List of counties in Rhode Island

Counties of Rhode Island
Location	State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
Number	5
Populations	49,875 (Bristol) – 626,667 (Providence)
Areas	24 square miles (62 km^2) (Bristol) – 409 square miles (1,060 km^2) (Providence)
Government	County government (defunct since 1846)
Subdivisions	cities, towns,villages, unincorporated communities, census designated place

Timeline of the counties of Rhode Island

This is a list of the five counties in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Rhode Island is tied with Hawaii for having the second-lowest number of counties of any U.S. state (only Delaware has fewer, with three counties).^[1] Although Rhode Island is divided into counties, it does not have any local government at the county level.^[2] Instead, local governance is provided by the eight cities and thirty-one towns.^[3] Counties in Rhode Island have had no governmental functions since 1846 other than as court administrative and sheriff corrections boundaries which are part of state government.

Within Rhode Island, Washington County is colloquially referred to as South County.

The colony of Rhode Island was established in the 17th century, and was the first of the thirteen original American colonies to declare independence from British rule in 1776, signaling the start of the American Revolution. The counties were all established before the Declaration of Independence.^[2]

The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code, which is used by the United States government to uniquely identify states and counties, is provided with each entry.^[4] Rhode Island's code is 44, which when combined with any county code would be written as 44XXX. The FIPS code for each county links to census data for that county.

Alphabetical list

County	INCITS [5]	County Seat [6]	Established [2]	Origin [7]	Etymology	Population [8]	Area [8]	Map
Bristol County	001	Bristol	1747	Created from land gained from Bristol County, Massachusetts after resolution of a boundary dispute between the two colonies.	City of Bristol, England	49,875	24 sq mi (62 km^2)
Kent County	003	East Greenwich	1750	Created from part of Providence County.	County of Kent, England	166,158	168 sq mi (435 km^2)
Newport County	005	Newport	1703	Formed as Rhode Island County in 1703. Renamed Newport County in 1729	Town of Newport, Essex	82,888	102 sq mi (264 km^2)
Providence County	007	Providence	1703	Formed in 1703 as Providence Plantations County. Renamed Providence County in 1729	Divine Providence, a concept reflecting the religious nature of colonial founder Roger Williams	626,667	409 sq mi (1,059 km^2)
Washington County	009	South Kingstown*	1729	Formed in 1729 as Kings County from part of Providence Plantations County. Renamed Washington County in 1781.	George Washington, American Revolutionary War general and first President of the USA	126,979	329 sq mi (852 km^2)

Note

• The county seat of Washington County (before county government was abolished) is often referred to as West Kingston. In reality, West Kingston, a village of South Kingstown, does not have its own local government, but because the courthouse was located in West Kingston's zip code, it has become known as the county seat.

References

1. "How Many Counties are in Your State?". 2000. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
2. National Association of Counties. "NACo – Find a county". Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-04-26.
3. "Know Rhode Island". Rhode Island Office of the Secretary of State. Retrieved 2007-08-07.
4. "FIPS Publish 6-4". National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
5. "EPA County FIPS Code Listing". EPA. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
6. "State of Rhode Island General Laws, Chap. 42-3".
7. "Rhode Island Counties and Towns". 2002-12-19. Retrieved 2007-07-08.
8. "Rhode Island QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau". State & County QuickFacts. Retrieved 2011-10-27.