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iamthemosin t1_jbyb1pf wrote

Reply to comment by Ryokurin in [OC] Bank Failures by US State since 2000 by pm_me_jupiter_photos

How are there 159 counties in Georgia?

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KingTemplar t1_jbycfwr wrote

Well when they divided it up and got around to counting it turns out they had created 159 counties.

That’s not even the craziest state. KY has more counties per square mile than any other state.

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CuttingTheMustard t1_jbz34vx wrote

An additional fun stat - Texas has 254 counties - more than any other state.

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Master_of_Rivendell t1_jbzfcl1 wrote

Yeah but the size of Texas completely negates that "fun" fact, making it quite boring.

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CuttingTheMustard t1_jbzfw58 wrote

And then you consider Alaska, which is more than twice the size with only 29 counties or California which is 3/5th the size with only 58 counties.

Lots of interesting decisions were made when subdividing our states.

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HobbitFoot t1_jbzjawe wrote

Also, Alaska merged the municipal and county functions into boroughs.

Also also, Alaska has land that doesn't belong to any borough but is unincorporated, which makes Alaska the only state to have land within its state that isn't in a county.

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WartyBalls4060 t1_jc0dllv wrote

Who handles LE in the unincorporated areas? State Troopers?

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HobbitFoot t1_jc1w2e2 wrote

State Troopers. This is starting to become a political issue as some communities are now populated enough to become their own borough, but are choosing to stay unincorporated for tax reasons.

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CrispyRussians t1_jbzg2o6 wrote

Some of the best county and city names ever. Bacon County and my fav city Cumming

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bigjaydub t1_jbyn8op wrote

The story I’ve heard is that back in the olden days, they wanted the court house to be a day’s ride away from wherever you lived. Thus many smaller counties and court houses.

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GoblinCaptain t1_jbz8z1q wrote

I'd believe it, my county courthouse is a little more than 15 minutes away from me and around 30 from the furthest point in the county, not terrible honestly. Used to work in the jail that was connected to it so it was nice leaving only about 30 mins before my shift started

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Mehhish t1_jbzhccs wrote

TIL the largest Hindu Temple in the US, is in Georgia, and honestly, it looks pretty cool.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAPS_Shri_Swaminarayan_Mandir_Atlanta

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bigjaydub t1_jbziqxd wrote

Haven’t been, but would love to go myself.

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Lemon_bird t1_jc0bgcd wrote

wow that’s beautiful. I’m learning way more fun facts here than usual

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vapidusername t1_jc0b17k wrote

That’s part of it. The other part, like a lot of things in Georgia, is politics.

https://cviog.uga.edu/news/061319-counties.html

From the article, “Until 1962, Georgia used the County Unit System to choose many elected officials. The system gave more political muscle to urban counties, so it benefited rural Georgia to create more counties and therefore more muscle.

“Another rural county, that’s two more rural votes there, off-set those interests in Atlanta,” Charles Bullock, Political Science Professor at the University of Georgia explained.

In 1945, the Georgia Constitution capped the number of counties at 159.”

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Ocksu2 t1_jbym86q wrote

We have tiny counties. I am roughly 15 minutes from 6 different counties not including the one I am in.

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TehWildMan_ t1_jbzdiun wrote

Early Georgia really wanted a local government/county seat to be within about a day's journey by whatever means of travel was available at the time.

As the state grew, that meant creating a bunch of counties.

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half_integer t1_jbynvpm wrote

Being from a state with relatively few counties (24), it seems like these states with ~100 counties but similar population (VA, KY, etc.) must have relatively cost inefficient local government - there must be a minimum staff to handle lawmaking, permits, etc. whether you're servicing 10,000 people or 100,000, right? Regardless of land area, I think I would rather have the economies of scale.

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WhileNotLurking t1_jbzax4y wrote

True but you have to ask two questions:

  1. when was it created. Things on the east coast are older and the administration of a county the size of Delaware would have been difficult in 1770s. They also took on a lot of historical boundaries that existed during colonial times.

  2. A state like Nevada with big counties might make sense as it was a state that developed much later, and is much less dense.

  3. even with the changes in advancement of transportation - who's going to vote to get rid of their own autonomy and be merged into a larger entity with neighboring counties that could have differ goals, budgets, etc.

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mixduptransistor t1_jbzq31a wrote

Counties do different things in different states (and sometimes different things even within the same state, depending on the county)

In Georgia, cities often take on a lot of the tasks of a county, and counties provide a lot of city services in unincorporated areas that in some states just wouldn't have those services. It all tends to balance out

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johrnjohrn t1_jbyctq9 wrote

I have had to enter sales tax by county data related to these states before. I thought the exact same thing every month.

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gsfgf t1_jbzk4y1 wrote

Our counties originally had to be small enough that you can ride a horse from anywhere to the county seat and back in a day. (Note: Fulton County is actually three original counties combine, hence its size)

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Sleep_adict t1_jbye88d wrote

Corruption and old boys network.

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DominiqueTrillkins t1_jbz5bt5 wrote

It was to have the ability to get to the courthouse or center of business in one days horse drawn carriage ride. Notice that flatter, more navigable areas have larger counties and the mountainous areas have smaller ones

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