What is the difference between a "Parish", "county" and a "borough" in the US?

Question

I am fascinated with the 58 counties of my home in California. I have been to all but one of them (Inyo). I read in a book that San Bernardino County is the largest single county in the US. This county, which is mostly desert, is larger than the nine smallest states.

Now this claim hits a brick wall with the counties or "boroughs" of Alaska. Alaska only has twelve boroughs, but some go from the bottom to the top of the state, which would clearly dwarf SB County.

So my question is what exactly is the difference between a county and a borough with these facts in mind?

I also know that in Louisiana, their counties are called

"Parishes", but my thought is that a Parish and a county

are essentially the same. If I am wrong, I'm sure one of you could help me.

Thank you. Take care.

Answer 1

Teacher, it's quite interesting that u have visited 57 of CA's counties, & I'd assume you've driven thorough my home county of Kern once or 2x. Yep, San Bernardino Co. is pretty big, as I've traveled through it numerous times traveling 2/from Vegas.

I'm sure that a parish in Louisiana is a subdivision in that state such as a county in other st8s, not 2 b confused w/ the geographic area of a church (in Catholicism, according 2 my knowledge). As for a borough, I'm sure AK has boroughs although if u have a Rand McNally U.S. road atlas it doesn't show boroughs on a Alaska map. Of course, there are also the five boroughs of New York City but I think that's different. Incidentally, those boroughs r also counties but not all of them have the same name.

Staten Island - Richmond Co.

Brooklyn - Kings Co.

Manhattan - New York Co.

Queens - Queens Co.

Bronx - Bronx Co.

Answer 2

I'm from Lousiana so I can help you greatly with this question. Parish is the same as county. The same goes for borough as well. Why are divisions of state called different things based on where you are at in the country? It's best to look at what "Easterner" first came to that part of the country.  I also listed links for more info on the definitions:

Originally, in continental Europe, a county (comté, Grafschaft) was the land under the jurisdiction of a count (comte, Graf).

The word 'borough' derives from a common Indo-European language cognate, meaning 'fort'; compare borough, bury (England), burgh (Scotland), burg (German), bourg (France), borg (Scandanavia). The incidence of these words as suffixes to place names (e.g. Canterbury, Strasbourg, Luxembourg, Edinburgh, Hamburg), usually indicates that they were once fortified settlements.

In Louisiana it is equivalent to a county (US usage). See List of parishes in Louisiana. Louisiana has 64 parishes, which were created when it was a territory of the Spanish and French empires, which were both Roman Catholic.

Answer 3

Parishes and Counties are roughly equivalent and serve as the intermediate government betweeen municipality (city) and state.

The boroughs of Alaska are somewhat like counties, but because they're so huge and the population to sparse (and the transportation infrastructure so undeveloped) the boroughs typically do not carry out county-type government; there simply isn't much of a need.

Answer 4

A parish is simply a county that's located in Louisiana.  The name is derived from the Roman Catholic Church which was the official church of France.  Oddly, the Napoleonic Code remains the basis of Louisiana state law even though all the other 49 states have English Common Law as their basis.

A borough has two separate meanings:

1) The City of New York is divided into 5 separate boroughs.  These are really just geographic divisions intended to better streamline government services.  The borough Manhattan is coterminous with New York County.  The borough of The Bronx is coterminous with Bronx County.  The borough of Queens is coterminous with Queens County.  The borough of Brooklyn is coterminous with Kings County.  The borough of Staten Island is coterminous with Richmond County.

2) Alaska, being gigantic an underpopulated, is subdivided into a number of county-like entities called boroughs.  For the most part though, due to extreme distances and a limited ground transportation network, the State of Alaska and municipal governments perform the majority of functions that a county government provides in the other 49 states.