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New England county governments are typically much less powerful than in other areas of the country, to the point that in Connecticut I believe they are just notional/historical at this point, as the town is the basic unit of local government. But in MD, for example, the county government is the main focus of local governance.
County government has been abolished in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and most of Massachusetts. In Massachusetts, only the counties to the south of Boston (Norfolk, Bristol, Plymouth, Barnstable, Dukes, and Nantucket) still have county governments. Though in practice Nantucket is a consolidated town-county, and thus doesn't have a county government either.
In the south, people who live in rural areas will say they are from "so and so county" people who live in a significant population center 30,000-50,000 pop or greater will say they are from "so and so city".
Example:
Someone who lives in Davidson (Nashville) or Montogomery (Clarksville) will say they are from Clarksville or Nashville. Someone who lives in Cheatham or Hickman Counties (two rural Middle TN counties) will be more likely to say that they are from Cheatham or Hickman Counties instead of using the town/city names associated with those counties.
In Colorado, they are talked about as reference points a lot, but IMO the counties themselves don't mean as much as they do in California or Washington (for example).
The lines are poorly signed, some of the counties have consolidated or overlapped their services together (for example, Arapahoe County handles some of Douglas County's social services; Jefferson County handles some of Gilpin County's courts), and Denver County even has some swiss cheese holes in it (Arapahoe County enclaves).
In St. Louis use the term a lot. We are going to the county to work today refering to St. Louis County. Or they will say I am going to the city for xyz meaning anything within the city of St. Louis. That comes from the separate city county government divide.
The reason is that Salt Lake County (where Salt Lake City is located) has a completely different vibe than the counties which border it -- such as Utah County, Davis County, and Tooele County (pronounced "too-IL-uh"). Both native Salt Lakers and transplants from elsewhere are always telling people who are thinking of moving to the area to avoid Utah County unless they are staunch LDS, and to stick to Salt Lake County which is just north of Utah County, where they'll be much happier.
DFW. People constantly talk about Dallas County, Tarrant County, Collin County and Denton County. There is a pretty big difference in vibs based on counties.
I don't think this is a uncommon practice at all, growing up in the Treasure Valley (Boise area) people talk about Ada County and Canyon County all the time as Ada county (Boise) is more liberal/ and Canyon (Nampa) more rural in character.
i live in boston where people rarely talk about counties. but on this forum (and elsewhere) you will hear orange county, dade county, prince george county, ...
what are the metros where counties are used describe where a person lives moreso than the actual city or town ?
In the Greater NYC Area one speaks of counties for people living outside of NYC.
I'm not sure if this counts, but in NYC each borough is also its own county. Other than that people here don't really use county names too much, except maybe Westchester/Rockland.
The borough names are sometimes different than their county names, though:
Borough/County
Manhattan/New York county
Bronx/Bronx county
Queens/Queens county
Brooklyn/Kings county
Staten Island/Richmond county
As far as NYC area residents referring to other counties, in addition to Westchester and Rockland, I find Nassau and Suffolk are used a lot, with Bergen (NJ) and Fairfield (CT) rounding it out.
In Massachusetts, only the counties to the south of Boston (Norfolk, Bristol, Plymouth, Barnstable, Dukes, and Nantucket) still have county governments.
I couldn't possibly let this go by without pointing out that the name of the county that comprises Martha's Vineyard is not officially "Dukes" but "County of Dukes," meaning it's formally referred to as the "County of Dukes County."
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