Incorporated town


An incorporated town is a town that is a municipal corporation.

Canada

Incorporated towns are a form of local government in Canada, which is a responsibility of provincial rather than federal government.

United States

An incorporated town or city in the United States is a municipality, that is, one with a charter received from the state. This is not to be confused with a chartered city/town with a governing system that is defined by the city's own charter document rather than by state, provincial, regional or national laws. An incorporated town will have elected officials, as differentiated from an unincorporated community, which exists only by tradition and does not have elected officials at the town level. In some states, civil townships may sometimes be called towns, but are generally not incorporated municipalities, but are administrative subdivisions and derive their authority from statute rather than from a charter. In New York and Wisconsin, "towns" are more similar in concept to townships in other states than to incorporated towns in most states. In some other states, the term "town" is not used for municipalities. There are also different types of town/city governments that affect the organization administrative powers such as council-manager government that is the most popular form, townships, Villages, town meeting, etc.

California

Under California's Government Code Sections 34500-34504, the terms "city" and "town" are explicitly interchangeable, i.e. there is no legal distinction between an incorporated city and an incorporated town. California has 22 incorporated municipalities that are styled "Town of " instead of "City of ".

Illinois

The oldest existing municipal town in Illinois is Astoria in Fulton County, incorporated on January 24, 1839; the newest existing town is La Prairie in Adams County, incorporated on April 15, 1869.
There are 19 incorporated towns in Illinois, none of which are county seats

Maryland

Municipalities in Maryland can be cities, towns, or villages.

New England

In all six New England states, towns are the main units of local government. Towns cover most or all land area in all six states, including rural areas. New England towns are notable for their town meeting form of government.