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Like others have said, the definition of municipality differs by state. In NJ, we have cities, towns, townships, and boroughs. Some states define towns differently, and/or have villages rather than townships or towns. Some states have towns that are more like counties, large with smaller unincorporated municipalities within them. This makes it hard to tell what the country's largest "town" is, since what I call a town would be called a city in say California, or something like that.
The largest town in NJ is West New York, with 49,000 people. The largest township (townships are much more common) in New Jersey is Edison with 99,900 people. Who knows how people define "towns" elsewhere. It depends.
I live in MI, and their called townships here. Here city governments are separate from the townships they reside in, but village governments aren't separate from townships, if that makes sense.
There isn't a stitch of land in Michigan that isn't incorporated as at least a township. This has been in place since the Northwest territory was organized. In the 1920's the state created very prohibitive annexation laws giving the townships more power. It was put in place because the city of Detroit was starting to become as powerful as the state itself. Now Michigan has more redundant layers of localized government along with school districts compared to almost any other state.
This is also why there are no real cities of note in Michigan outside of Detroit, but a slew of mid-sized metro areas.
Town is shorthand for Township. Why some states use the word township and others use town, I do not know. A few states, like New Jersey and Pennsylvania use both.
There are 20 states with Townships/Towns that are important enough that the US Census Bureau counts them as "minor civil divisions". Interestingly these are all Northern states - Midwestern and Northeastern.
1. Maine - Town
2. New Hampshire - Town
3. Vermont - Town
4. Massachusetts - Town
5. Rhode Island - Town
6. Connecticut - Town
7. New York - Town
8. New Jersey - Township*
9. Pennsylvania - Township*
10. Ohio - Township
11. Michigan - Township?
12. Wisconsin - Town
13. Indiana - Township
14. Illinois - Township
15. Minnesota - Township
16. Missouri - Township
17. North Dakota - Township
18. South Dakota - Township
19. Nebraska - Township
20. Kansas - Township
* NJ and PA have a couple of communities each called Towns instead of Townships. They are basically the same thing.
There are townships and even towns (such as in Virginia) in Southern and Western states but they do not seem as important as in the Northern states. Instead, often the County level government is of increased importance.
I believe I read somewhere that Hempstead is the largest Town in America. Whether that also includes Townships is a good question.
The reason that Hempstead is still a Town and not a City is because in NY State, there is very little difference these days. Towns can pretty much do any local service a City can, so there is no huge advantage for Hempstead to incorporate as a City.
Town is shorthand for Township. Why some states use the word township and others use town, I do not know. A few states, like New Jersey and Pennsylvania use both.
There are 20 states with Townships/Towns that are important enough that the US Census Bureau counts them as "minor civil divisions". Interestingly these are all Northern states - Midwestern and Northeastern.
1. Maine - Town
2. New Hampshire - Town
3. Vermont - Town
4. Massachusetts - Town
5. Rhode Island - Town
6. Connecticut - Town
7. New York - Town
8. New Jersey - Township*
9. Pennsylvania - Township*
10. Ohio - Township
11. Michigan - Township?
12. Wisconsin - Town
13. Indiana - Township
14. Illinois - Township
15. Minnesota - Township
16. Missouri - Township
17. North Dakota - Township
18. South Dakota - Township
19. Nebraska - Township
20. Kansas - Township
* NJ and PA have a couple of communities each called Towns instead of Townships. They are basically the same thing.
There are townships and even towns (such as in Virginia) in Southern and Western states but they do not seem as important as in the Northern states. Instead, often the County level government is of increased importance.
1. Not in every state. Colorado has no townships. We have cities and towns, period. Some areas are neither, they are simply referred to as "unicorporated (insert name of county here) County".
2. Pennsylvania has one town, Bloomsburg. I don't recall the particulars of that situation. Most places in PA are boroughs or cities. Townships denote more rural areas, though there are some townships near Pittsburgh and Philadelphia that are now basically suburban enclaves.
1. Not in every state. Colorado has no townships. We have cities and towns, period. Some areas are neither, they are simply referred to as "unicorporated (insert name of county here) County".
2. Pennsylvania has one town, Bloomsburg. I don't recall the particulars of that situation. Most places in PA are boroughs or cities. Townships denote more rural areas, though there are some townships near Pittsburgh and Philadelphia that are now basically suburban enclaves.
Colorado is probably a Western exception then. But even then you will not find the term "unicorporated County" in the Northeast (most of the Northeast is incorporated) or parts of the Upper Midwest. So in that regard, Colorado is similar to other Western states.
I looked quickly and it seems Pennsylvania has more then 1500 townships and about 1,000 cities and boroughs. I was surprised to see that PA had so many boroughs (more then 900) but there are still more townships.
Paradise, Nevada, is an unincorporated town with a population of 223,000. Most people who think they have been to Las Vegas have only been to Paradise -- the Las Vegas Strip and the airport are both in Paradise. The whole state of Nevada didn't have that many inhabitants until 1960.
^ what about las vegas; is it technically a city ?
it seems like metro vegas is actually in metro paradise (i feel like paradise would be a better name).
I think people at the beginning of the thread nailed it when they said Hempstead, NY. That said, "towns" vary a lot in New York depending upon the area. In Upstate NY they are similar to New England, covering a small geographic area, and are largely rural or suburban. In Long Island and a few other places near New York City (notably Rockland County) they are more like secondary county subdivisions. They are very geographically expansive, and contain numerous incorporated "villages" within them, which people tend to identify with much more strongly than the Town.
Local government varies very dramatically from state to state, and people are often ignorant about how it works elsewhere. On one extreme, you have states like Connecticut and Rhode Island, where every single bit of land is incorporated into cities and towns, and county government has been abolished. On the other extreme, you have Virginia, where if a city incorporates it must be separate from the county. Or Hawaii, where cities cannot incorporate separate from their counties. Therefore, discussion about something like "towns" doesn't make sense, because even if you argue town and township are the same thing (they aren't quite - Wisconsin towns are basically townships, while New England towns are effectively no different from cities except in name), the term "town" has a totally different meaning in the South and West.
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