By: Charles Bowen To some ears, it is reminiscent of England and Ireland: how in much of rural America, people don't say they are from such and such city, but rather say, "I'm from Clay County" or "I'm from Roane County." And it is not coincident that county government is so deeply ingrained in the American experience.
Counties trace their roots back a thousand years to the English shire, which acted as both the administrative arm of the national government and the citizen's local government. The same structure was adopted by the English colonists along the eastern seaboard of North America in the 17th and 18th centuries. Later, when the federal government was formed, framers of the Constitution did not provide for local governments, but rather left the matter to the states. As a result, early state constitutions generally conceptualized county government as an arm of the state. Nowadays 3,066 counties exist in the United States, ranging in size from under 200 people in Texas's Loving County to more than 9 million residing in California's Los Angeles County.
Access to facts and figures about specific counties would offer a working journalist a quick, valuable snapshot of life in various parts of the country. A little-known site on the Web offers just that. The online home of the National Association of Counties gives access to a comprehensive, in-depth database of county information including population, Census Bureau quick facts, elected officials, county codes and ordinances, and county policies. It also has links to nationwide county statistics such as economic and demographic data.
To reach this easily navigable resource, visit the site at
http://www.naco.org/index.cfm, where a news-oriented introductory page summarizes reports of interest to county administrators. NACo's mission is to represent the nation's counties in Washington, emphasizing county issues.
For a reporter or editor, the first stop probably should be the site's extensive statistical database. Reach that by clicking on the "About Counties" link at the top of the main screen's left column, then selecting "U.S. Counties" from the upper left of the subsequent display. On the resulting screen, select a state by either clicking its outline on an on-screen map or choosing its name from a drop- down menu. The site then summarizes the selected state's counties, providing a total number and a table listing hyperlinked names of each county along with its current population and square mileage.
Click the name of the county of interest for the details. The site then highlights facts about the county (population change since 1980, address of the courthouse and name of key elected officials, along with four important links for additional information:
* Cities in the county, also including towns, boroughs, and communities based on the U.S. Postal Service mail delivery.
* Census Bureau Quick Facts about that county, with dozens of breakouts in the categories of "People Facts" (population breakdowns, education figures, home ownership, income and racial diversity), "Business Facts" (manufacturing, farming, retail and other economic factors for the county) and "Geography Facts," such as land square mileage and population density.
* Census Tiger Map and County Profile, offering graphic maps of the county and statistic profiles on income, poverty, population, and so on.
* Capital Impact Data, which links to capitolimpact.com, where you can get even more county facts and statistics on a variety of topics from political representation to courts and the local media.
Other considerations for using this site in your work:
1. Another way to view the material in the counties database is to select the "County Data Queries" link from the main About Counties page. There the site has created a number of ways to query the database based upon the questions most frequently asked, such as viewing counties by households, income and square mileage, but also by a selected population range, by county seats or by cities. You can even use the section to find coastal counties and view selected agricultural data.
2. If you are researching new ordinances and regulations in your county and want to compare them with similar measures in other parts of the country, click on the "County Codes & Ordinances" links under the About Counties page. The NACo Research Division collects examples of various county codes and ordinances and arranges them by subject, state, and county.
3. Use the Site Index option at the top of any page in the service to get a hyperlinked list of all its features and services.
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