List of counties in Massachusetts

The U.S. state of Massachusetts has 14 counties, though eight^[1] of these fourteen county governments were abolished between 1997 and 2000. The counties in the southeastern portion of the state retain county-level local government (Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Norfolk, Plymouth) or, in one case, (Nantucket County) consolidated city-county government.^[2][3] Vestigial judicial and law enforcement districts still follow county boundaries even in the counties whose county-level government has been disestablished, and the counties are still generally recognized as geographic entities if not political ones.^[4] Three counties (Hampshire, Barnstable, and Franklin) have formed new county regional compacts to serve as a form of regional governance.

Counties of Massachusetts
Location	Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Number	14
Populations	14,444 (Nantucket) – 1,623,952 (Middlesex)
Areas	48 square miles (120 km2) (Nantucket) – 1,513 square miles (3,920 km2) (Worcester)
Government	County government
Subdivisions	cities, towns, villages, unincorporated communities, census designated place

Abolitions of some county governments

  County government abolished or disincorporated

  County government role operated by a municipality (other than city-county consolidation)

  Current county government

  County regional compacts to serve as a form of regional governance

Mismanagement^{[citation needed]} of Middlesex County's public hospital in the mid-1990s left that county on the brink of insolvency, and in 1997 the Massachusetts legislature stepped in by assuming all assets and obligations of the county. The government of Middlesex County was officially abolished on July 11, 1997.^[1] Later that year, the Franklin County Commission voted itself out of existence. The law abolishing Middlesex County also provided for the elimination of Hampden County and Worcester County on July 1, 1998.^[1] This law was later amended to abolish Hampshire County on January 1, 1999; Essex County and Suffolk County on July 1 of that same year; and Berkshire County on July 1, 2000.^[1] State law allows other counties either to abolish themselves, or to reorganize as a "regional council of governments",^[1] as Hampshire and Franklin Counties have done. The governments of Bristol, Plymouth, and Norfolk Counties remain substantially unchanged. Barnstable and Dukes Counties have adopted modern county charters, enabling them to act as efficient regional governments. Dukes County in particular has a strong regional planning agency known as the Martha's Vineyard Commission.^[5]

District Attorneys

Jurisdictional areas for District Attorneys are created by state law and while some follow traditional county boundaries, names and geographic areas covered are often different. Criminal matters in Essex County are handled by the District Attorney for the Eastern District; in Middlesex County by the District Attorney for the Northern District; in Worcester County by the District Attorney for the Middle District; in Dukes, Barnstable and Nantucket counties by the District Attorney for the Cape and Islands District and in Franklin and Hampshire counties by the District Attorney for the Northwestern District. The districts for the counties of Berkshire, Bristol, Hampden, Norfolk, Plymouth and Suffolk are the same in geography and nomenclature as the respective counties,^[6] and the District Attorneys for the Eastern, Middle, and Northern Districts are commonly known as the Essex County,^[7] Worcester County,^[8] and Middlesex County District Attorneys,^[9] respectively.

Historical counties

Eleven other historical counties have existed in Massachusetts, most becoming defunct when their lands were absorbed into the colony of New Hampshire or the state of Maine, both of which were created out of territory originally claimed by Massachusetts colonists. The oldest counties still in Massachusetts are Essex County, Middlesex County, and Suffolk County, created in 1643 with the original Norfolk County which was absorbed by New Hampshire and bears no relation to the modern Norfolk County. When these counties were created, they were a part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which would remain separate from the Plymouth Colony and that colony's counties until 1691. Hampden County, created in 1812, is the most recently created county still in Massachusetts, although Penobscot County, Maine bore that distinction until Maine broke off from Massachusetts in 1820.^[10] The majority of Massachusetts counties are named in honor of English place names, reflecting Massachusetts' colonial heritage.^[11]

Shire town

The term shire town is the statutory term for the Massachusetts town having a county court and administration offices; a county can have multiple shire towns.^[12] County seat is the standard term used in general communications by the Massachusetts government.

FIPS code

The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code, used by the United States government to uniquely identify counties, is provided with each entry. FIPS codes are five-digit numbers; for Massachusetts the codes start with 25 and are completed with the three-digit county code. The FIPS code for each county in the table links to census data for that county.^[13]

List of current counties

County	FIPS code[14]	County seat[15]	Est.[16]	Origin[10]	Etymology[11]	Population[17]	Area[16]	Map
Barnstable County	001	Barnstable	1685	One of three original counties created in the Plymouth Colony	After its county seat of Barnstable, which is named after the English town of Barnstaple	231,735	396 sq mi (1,026 km2)
Berkshire County	003	Pittsfield	1761	From part of Hampshire County. Government abolished in 2000.[4]	For the English county of Berkshire	126,818	931 sq mi (2,411 km2)
Bristol County	005	Taunton	1685	One of three original counties created in the Plymouth Colony	For its original county seat of Bristol, Massachusetts, which is named for the English port city of Bristol – when the Town of Bristol joined Rhode Island, the name of the county was kept	581,841	556 sq mi (1,440 km2)
Dukes County	007	Edgartown	1695	From Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands, which had been part of Dukes County, New York until Massachusetts gained it in 1691	Formerly a part of Dukes County, New York until 1691, the land at one time was the possession of the Duke of York	20,819	104 sq mi (269 km2)
Essex County	009	Salem, Lawrence	1643	One of four original counties created in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Government abolished in 1999.[4]	For the English county of Essex	810,089	498 sq mi (1,290 km2)
Franklin County	011	Greenfield	1811	From part of Hampshire County. Government abolished in 1997.[4]	For Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), early American scientist, diplomat, and politician	70,836	702 sq mi (1,818 km2)
Hampden County	013	Springfield	1812	From part of Hampshire County. Government abolished in 1998.[4]	John Hampden (1595—1643), the famous 17th century English parliamentarian	460,291	618 sq mi (1,601 km2)
Hampshire County	015	Northampton	1662	From unorganized territory in the western part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Government abolished 1999.[4]	For the English county of Hampshire	162,502	529 sq mi (1,370 km2)
Middlesex County	017	Lowell, Cambridge	1643	One of four original counties created in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Government abolished in 1997.[4]	For the English county of Middlesex	1,623,952	824 sq mi (2,134 km2)
Nantucket County	019	Nantucket	1695	From Nantucket Island which had been part of Dukes County, New York until Massachusetts gained it in 1691.	The Town of Nantucket, itself derived from a Wampanoag word meaning "place of peace"	14,444	48 sq mi (124 km2)
Norfolk County	021	Dedham	1793	From part of Suffolk County.	For the English county of Norfolk	727,473	400 sq mi (1,036 km2)
Plymouth County	023	Brockton, Plymouth	1685	One of three original counties created in the Plymouth Colony.	For its seat of Plymouth, which is named for the English port city of Plymouth	535,308	661 sq mi (1,712 km2)
Suffolk County	025	Boston	1643	One of four original counties created in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Government abolished in 1999.[4]	For the English county of Suffolk	768,425	58 sq mi (150 km2)
Worcester County	027	Worcester	1731	From parts of Hampshire County, Middlesex County and Suffolk County. Government abolished in 1998.[4]	For its county seat of Worcester, which is named in honor of the English city of Worcester and the English Civil War Battle of Worcester in 1651, a Parliamentarian victory	866,866	1,513 sq mi (3,919 km2)

Former counties

County	Created [10]	Abolished [10]	Fate [10]
Cumberland County	1760	1820	Transferred to Maine
Devonshire County	1674	1675	Abolished and then absorbed into Maine
Hancock County	1789	1820	Transferred to Maine
Kennebec County	1799	1820	Transferred to Maine
Lincoln County	1760	1820	Transferred to Maine
Norfolk County	1643	1679	Abolished – most of its territory was absorbed into New Hampshire; towns remaining in Massachusetts were absorbed into Essex County. One of four original counties created in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Oxford County	1805	1820	Transferred to Maine
Penobscot County	1816	1820	Transferred to Maine
Somerset County	1809	1820	Transferred to Maine
Washington County	1789	1820	Transferred to Maine
York County	1652	1820	Transferred to Maine – there were two periods when York County was abolished, 1664 to 1668 and 1680 to 1691

See also

• Administrative divisions of Massachusetts
• Government of Massachusetts – section on local government
• List of former United States counties

Further reading

• Bohl, Chloe Courtney (December 12, 2023). "Why did half of Massachusetts's counties abolish their governments in the '90s". Boston Media Partners. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
• Politics, Counties, and Municipalities, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

References

1. Mass. Gen. L. c. 34B
   "General Laws of Massachusetts, Chapter 34B. Abolition of County Government". Massachusetts General Court. Archived from the original on February 5, 2010. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
2. "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on June 8, 2007. Retrieved July 19, 2007.
3. "Find A County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on January 13, 2014. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
4. "Historical Data Relating to the Incorporation of and Abolishment of Counties in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts". Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Archived from the original on June 17, 2018. Retrieved January 14, 2007.
5. "Martha's Vineyard Commission - mvcommission.org". www.mvcommission.org. Archived from the original on April 8, 2018. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
6. "Elections: Massachusetts District Attorney – Districts". www.sec.state.ma.us. August 23, 2004. Archived from the original on August 23, 2004.
7. "Essex District Attorney's Office | Mass.gov". www.mass.gov. Archived from the original on October 13, 2021. Retrieved October 24, 2021.
8. "Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early, Jr". The Office of the Worcester County District Attorney. Archived from the original on July 28, 2021. Retrieved October 24, 2021.
9. "Middlesex District Attorney". Archived from the original on March 8, 2017. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
10. Brown, Richard & Tager, Jack (2000). Massachusetts: A Concise History. University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 1-55849-249-6.
11. Beatty, Michael (2001). County Name Origins of the United States. McFarland Press. ISBN 0-7864-1025-6.
12. Part III, Title I, Chapter 213, §7 Archived 2008-07-19 at the Wayback Machine, Massachusetts General Laws. Accessed 24 January 2008.
13. "County FIPS Code Listing for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts". US Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
14. "EPA County FIPS Code Listing". EPA.gov. Archived from the original on May 14, 2011. Retrieved February 23, 2008.
15. "U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Massachusetts". Archived from the original on January 27, 2021. Retrieved August 21, 2020.
16. "NACo – Find a county". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on June 1, 2010. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
17. "U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Massachusetts". U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on January 27, 2021. Retrieved April 21, 2024.

External links

• Historical Data Relating to the Incorporation of and Abolishment of Counties in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts