Difference between a Consulate General, Consulate, Vice-Consulate, and Consular Agency?

Question

I know that their obviously descending order of importance, but where are they usually placed? I know a Consulate General is one of the main missions in an nation other than the embassy, and is sometimes political too. But where are Consulates usually placed? Other pretty large cities (In example a city like Houston, TX).

Is Vice-Consulate actually used and when is it used as opposed to just having a full Consulate, and how does it differentiate from a Consulate

What about a Consular Agency seems to be on U.S. websites at least associated with an specific consulate or consulate general. Is this always how it usually is, and are there sometimes only one consular agents?

Are Honorary Consuls still somewhat political, and represent a nation? (I know a smaller city that has Honorary Consuls)

Answer 1

The consulate is an extension of the embassy and because some places are so large, like the USA, the embassy its self cannot be everywhere and handle all foreign affairs  within the country it is in.

The consulate does all that for the embassy, they typically process applications and visa's, stuff like that, regionally. In the US a consulate would handle things within a select group of states, where as, other states, would be handled by the embassy its self or another consulate.

The Consulate General is typically the head of the consulate in which he or she has been assigned. Where as, the Vice-Consulate, he or she would be just under the Consulate General.

The Consular Agency  is like a consulate, but they do most of the manual labor for the consulate or embassy, like renewing passports and what not.

Edit: An Honorary consul is a type of consul, an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another.