City Government
Once predominantly rural, the United States is today a highly urbanized country, with over 80 percent of its citizens now living in towns, large cities, or suburbs of cities. This statistic makes city governments critically important in the overall pattern of American government. To a greater extent than on the federal or state level, the city directly serves the needs of the people, providing everything from police and fire protection to sanitary codes, health regulations, education, public transportation, and housing.
The business of running major U.S. cities is enormously complex. In terms of population alone, New York City is larger than 39 of the 50 states. It is often said that, next to the presidency, the most difficult executive position in the country is that of mayor of New York.
City governments are chartered by states, and their charters detail the objectives and powers of the municipal government. But in many respects the cities function independently of the states. For most big cities, however, cooperation with both state and federal organizations is essential to meeting the needs of their residents.
Types of city governments vary widely across the nation. However, almost all have some kind of central council, elected by the voters, and an executive officer, assisted by various department heads, to manage the city’s affairs.
There are three general types of city government: the mayor-council, the commission, and the city manager. These are the pure forms; many cities have developed a combination of two or three of them.
Mayor-Council is the oldest form of city government in the United States and, until the beginning of the 20th century, was used by nearly all American cities. Its structure is similar to that of the state and national governments, with an elected mayor as chief of the executive branch and an elected council that represents the various neighborhoods forming the legislative branch. The mayor appoints heads of city departments and other officials, sometimes with the approval of the council. He or she has the power of veto over ordinances—the laws of the city—and frequently is responsible for preparing the city’s budget. The council passes city ordinances, sets the tax rate on property, and apportions money among the various city departments.
The Commission combines both the legislative and executive functions in one group of officials, usually three or more in number, elected city-wide. Each commissioner supervises the work of one or more city departments. One is named chairperson of the body and is often called the mayor, although his or her power is equivalent to that of the other commissioners.
The City Manager is a response to the increasing complexity of urban problems, which require management expertise not often possessed by elected public officials. The answer has been to entrust most of the executive powers, including law enforcement and provision of services, to a highly trained and experienced professional city manager.
The city manager plan has been adopted by a growing number of cities. Under this plan, a small, elected council makes the city ordinances and sets policy, but hires a paid administrator, also called a city manager, to carry out its decisions. The manager draws up the city budget and supervises most of the departments. Usually, there is no set term; the manager serves as long as the council is satisfied with his or her work.
Thousands of municipal jurisdictions are too small to qualify as city governments. These are chartered as towns and villages and deal with such strictly local needs as paving and lighting the streets; ensuring a water supply; providing police and fire protection; establishing local health regulations; arranging for garbage, sewage, and other waste disposal; collecting local taxes to support governmental operations; and, in cooperation with the state and county, directly administering the local school system.
The government is usually entrusted to an elected board or council, which may be known by a variety of names: town or village council, board of selectmen, board of supervisors, board of commissioners. The board may have a chairperson or president who functions as chief executive officer, or there may be an elected mayor. Governmental employees may include a clerk, treasurer, police and fire officers, and health and welfare officers.
One unique aspect of local government, found mostly in the New England region of the United States, is the “town meeting.” Once a year — sometimes more often if needed — the registered voters of the town meet in open session to elect officers, debate local issues, and pass laws for operating the government. As a body, they decide on road construction and repair, construction of public buildings and facilities, tax rates, and the town budget. The town meeting, which has existed for more than two centuries, is often cited as the purest form of direct democracy, in which the governmental power is not delegated, but is exercised directly and regularly by all the people.
America’s largest metro areas are currently gaining population at impressive rates. The growth in these areas is in fact driving much of the population growth across the nation. Upon closer examination of the data, this growth is the result of two very different migrations – one coming from the location choices of Americans themselves, the other shaped by where new immigrants from outside the United States are heading.
While many metro areas are attracting a net-inflow of migrants from other parts of the country, in several of the largest metros – New York, L.A., and Miami, especially – there is actually a net outflow of Americans to the rest of the country. Immigration is driving population growth in these places. Sunbelt metros like Houston, Dallas, and Phoenix, and knowledge hubs like Austin, Seattle, San Francisco, and D.C. are gaining much more from domestic migration.
Most Populous Urbanized Areas
- Top 3 urbanized areas have not changed since the
1950 Census when urbanized areas were first delineated
| Urbanized Area | Population | Land Area (square miles) | Density |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York--Newark, NY--NJ--CT | 18,351,295 | 3,450.2 | 5,318.9 |
| Los Angeles--Long Beach--Anaheim, CA | 12,150,996 | 1,736.0 | 6,999.3 |
| Chicago, IL--IN | 8,608,208 | 2,442.7 | 3,524.0 |
| Miami, FL | 5,502,379 | 1,238.6 | 4,442.4 |
| Philadelphia, PA--NJ--DE--MD | 5,441,567 | 1,981.4 | 2,746.4 |
| Dallas--Fort Worth--Arlington, TX | 5,121,892 | 1,779.1 | 2,878.9 |
| Houston, TX | 4,944,332 | 1,660.0 | 2,978.5 |
| Washington, DC--VA--MD | 4,586,770 | 1,321.7 | 3,470.3 |
| Atlanta, GA | 4,515,419 | 2,645.4 | 1,706.9 |
| Boston, MA--NH--RI | 4,181,019 | 1,873.5 | 2,231.7 |
Three Megalopolises, Population 1960 and 2010, and Percentage of U.S. Total Population
| 1960 Population | % of U.S. Total | 2010 Population | % of U.S. Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total U.S. Population | 179,323,175 | 100 | 308,745,538 | 100 |
| Megalopolises | ||||
| BosWash | 37,152,310 | 21 | 51,770,596 | 17 |
| ChiPitts | 13,537,469 | 8 | 17,719,657 | 6 |
| SanSan | 12,180,125 | 7 | 26,745,198 | 9 |
| Total Share | 36 | 31 | ||
Note: See References below for definitions of the megalopolises.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, 1960 Census of the Population, Vol. A, Part 1 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1961) and for 2010 Census data, PRB's DataFinder, accessed at www.prb.org/DataFinder.aspx, on Oct. 24, 2011.
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