# Difference between town and city **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 19, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-town-and-city/731789 "2015-09-19T16:17:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-town-and-city/731789/21 "2015-09-20T15:00:00Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I’m not sure what you mean by this - maybe it’s something specific to where I live or where you live , but city (and county and town) boundaries make a lot of difference in my life. On this side of the boundary, my city taxes pay for police, fire and sanitation departments- on the other side , the taxes may only pay for police while the fire department is volunteer and I might have to pay by the bag or arrange for my own trash pickup. All services are provided by either the city or the state or some combination - there aren’t any independent school districts, library districts, water districts etc. Those services are funded predominantly based on an income tax, unlike surrounding areas which fund services mostly with property taxes which are imposed separately by the town and any special districts. Parking and driving rules are likely to have some differences and there are also other differences in local laws. > > The only way in which I can see that city boundaries are “meaningless” is that a metropolitan area economy basically has a interconnected economy - but if that makes city boundaries meaningless, then state boundaries must also be meaningless because a metropolitan area can cross state lines ( the NYC metropolitan area includes parts of four states) You got the distinction I was making. Governmental units are quite specific to boundaries, and therefore taxes and services will vary greatly across lines. I used to work for my city government and that made me sensitive to these issues in a way few others can appreciate. From the outside, though, a “city” is an economic, cultural, transportation, vacation, sports, media, or other thing. I don’t care where the boundary lines are in Seattle or Charlotte or Boise. When I drive down to New York I feel the city proper from 50 miles out. And that’s true whether I approach it from upstate, Connecticut or New Jersey. In that way, state boundary lines are also in today’s world increasingly erasable. Even nations often have fuzzy boundaries in every way but governmental. Imaginary lines drawn on the earth are a fundamentally poor way to look at human culture. ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-town-and-city/731789/22 "2015-09-20T15:02:13Z")
Pennsylvania only has one incorporated “town” – Bloomsburg. All other incorporated municipal government areas are cities, townships, or boroughs. Villages are unincorporated areas. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-town-and-city/731789/23 "2015-09-20T16:48:40Z")
> [@runningdude](#): > > A city is a public corporation granted “home rule” rights by the respective state legislature. Incorporation allows the city to enter into contracts under its own name, as well as assume debt liabilities. They generally assume responsibility for the maintenance of infrastructure within their boundaries, and have an a fulltime local government able to provide responsive services. > > A town, however, traditionally only has a part-time government with a handful of employees. In Connecticut, specifically, the town was responsible for a relatively large swath of land, but would only provide very basic services. As development spread, residents might petition the legislature to split into a separate town. Resident’s might also petition to form a city within the a town, to provide additional public services to that area. Most cities eventually consolidated with their parent towns to provide all public services. (Because Connecticut is very densely populated, it has granted all towns the same rights as a city, making the distinction mostly a formality. A city still has a special charter from the state, but has no additional rights) > > Other states have county governments that provide a similar set of limited services. A town or township might be formed when an area requires more services than the county can provide. In these scenarios, when a community is incorporated as a city, it because either formally or functionally separate from the county. Other times, the county provides very limited, specialized services, such as court districts and public prosecutors, while cities and towns provide ordinary services, such as road, sewers, etc. > > Basically, the differences between a city and town depends on the details of the charter from the state. Broadly speaking, cities have traditionally had more municipal powers than towns, but this varies from state to state, and even county to county, and in many cases the differences is now a mere formality. That may be true in your state but is not the norm. Cities, towns, and villages have home rule if granted home rule to any municipality. In SC, it is a distinction in name only, and the voters of the incorporation also vote on the name and its form of government ("weak mayor, “strong mayor,” etc. In SC, public service districts have been set up to provide facilities for unincorporated county areas. They provide waste removal services, fire departments, etc. The county, however, still polices those areas by their deputies. The city of Chicago was originally laid out by an agency of the state of Illinois (which owned the property), the Canal Trustees Commission. It was called “the town of Chicago,” and additions were made by other state agencies, such as the School Trustees. (Section 16 in every township was designated for schools.) “Township” here refers to the six-mile square of land formed by surveyors pursuant to the federal government legislation to survey all the land west of the Mississippi, East of the Ohio, and North of Tenn. Each section consisted of section lines and township lines, but that’s another issue. “Townships” can also refer to other geopolitical areas. In fact, Thornton Township, much in the news today, is in the city of Chicago. The original plat of Chicago is called “the Original Town of Chicago.” ---
**Author:** ![runningdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@runningdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runningdude)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-town-and-city/731789/24 "2015-09-20T18:07:20Z")
> [@barbitu8](#): > > That may be true in your state but is not the norm. Cities, towns, and villages have home rule if granted home rule to any municipality. In SC, it is a distinction in name only, and the voters of the incorporation also vote on the name and its form of government ("weak mayor, “strong mayor,” > etc. That is precisely the same situation as in Connecticut. I also addressed how other states differ. However, even while there are few practical differences, a “city” charter is still distinct from any other municipal charter. The US Census bureau, for instance, treats cities differently than towns, although this is primarily an historical artifact. It is probably most distinctly a matter of civic pride or community identity as to whether residents wish to refer to their area as a town or city. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-town-and-city/731789/25 "2015-09-20T18:21:44Z")
> [@barbitu8](#): > > In fact, Thornton Township, much in the news today, is in the city of Chicago. No part of Thornton Township is inside the City of Chicago. [Thornton Township is south of Chicago](http://thorntontownship.com/about-us/thornton-township-communities/). In 1902 the voters of the City of Chicago voted to abolish all of the township governments within Chicago, but other township governments remain in Cook County. When the city annexed some property in DuPage County, Addison Township did come along for the ride, but as of the 2010 census, no one lives in the Addison Township part of Chicago. (As of the 2000 census, either 2 or 4 people, I forget which, lived there in two households.) Illinois has 3 forms of municipal government: City, village, and incorporated town. “Incorporated towns” are grandfathered in and no new incorporated towns can be formed. There are 19 remaining incorporated towns. A township government is an optional subdistrict of a county. 85 Illinois counties have township governments. Township governments were established mainly to provide county services in the days when it could take two or three days to travel to the county seat from the far reaches of the county. Nowdays, their main functions are to provide certain social services, clear snow on roads in unincorporated areas, and run cemeteries. Many contend that their primary function is to provide jobs for politically connected people. Fun fact: Cicero Illinois is both an incorporated town and a township! ---
**Author:** ![IDtenT\_Error](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@IDtenT\_Error](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IDtenT_Error)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-town-and-city/731789/26 "2015-09-20T21:06:54Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > What exactly is it that makes a town a city? I have often heard that the defining line is Population\> 10k, but the furthest east city in the US, Eastport,Maine, has a population of about ~1800. IIRC there are “towns” with populations greater than 60k. Is there a clear definition at all? Here’s Wikipedia for New York: [Administrative divisions of New York](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_divisions_of_New_York) [QUOTE=Wikipedia] The administrative divisions of New York are the various units of government that provide local government services in the state of New York. The state is divided into counties, cities, towns, and villages, which are all municipal corporations with their own government that provide most local government services. Whether a municipality is defined as a city, town, or village is not dependent on population or land area, but rather by the form of government selected by the residents and approved by the state legislature. [/QUOTE] What we actually call it is another matter entirely. When I go from my home in my town to Wal-Mart (inside the city limits), I say “I’m going into town, Do you need anything while I’m there?” On the other hand, my cousin used to complain all the time about people objecting to her saying “I’m going into the village”, when the local organization was very much an incorporated ‘village’, just because the locals didn’t like the way she said it. To be fair, she was saying it specifically to tweak/troll her fellow ‘villagers’, so there’s that 😉 So basically, no, there ain’t no definition. It’s all extremely local. And probably based mostly on people trying to piss each other off. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-town-and-city/731789/27 "2015-09-20T21:24:09Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Nope, no definitions except “I know one when I see one.” > > Each U.S. state has a unique definition of what a city is. I assume that each country where things are decided at the federal level has a distinct definition for that country. Population is often a factor, but those definitions tended in the U.S. to be created early in the state’s history so don’t reflect modern assumptions. > > City boundaries themselves are mostly meaningless in the modern era. The metropolitan area is really the “city” but except in a few cases (Jacksonville merged with its county, e.g.) are split up into dozens or hundreds of municipal governments… > Cities need to be defined specifically for each use if you need to make distinctions. Noting else works. Right. In [Virginia](http://www.virginiaplaces.org/vacities/), for example, the difference between a town and a city is that a town has a town charter and a city has a city charter. City charters grant legislative independence from the county in which the city is situated, but correspondingly require the city to provide services that would otherwise have been provided by the county. There’s nothing in the law or the current set of towns and cities in Virginia that speaks of size, either in terms of area or population, as being important. The “City” of Manassas Park is literally no more than a few blocks of suburban sprawl, two square miles and about ten thousand people, but it is a full city with full city rights. Compare that to the Town of Leesburg - larger in area, larger in population, and filled with much more history, but still “only” a town. There’s nothing in US federal law (or the Constitution) that requires any specific type of city or town system. A state could conceivably come up with whatever creative local jurisdictions it wanted to (Community of Settlement, Neighbor Zone of Two Mayors, Council-Driven Varkodee, FarmZone Governorate, whatever), as long as what they chose still preserved a republican form of government. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-town-and-city/731789/28 "2015-09-20T21:52:42Z")
Another Wisconsin factoid: There can be both a town and a city of the same name (There is both a Town of Kaukauna and a city if Kaukauna). Also, plenty of places have a post office but no self rule) (Ex: Fish Creek is governed by the town of Gibraltar). Sometimes places stay part of a town even if they are inside / very near a city. See Las Vegas / Paradise [Las Vegas isn't Las Vegas - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naDCCW5TSpU) Brian [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-town-and-city/731789.md?page=1)