US states with high-profile CDPs

[Zeffy]

One thing that has always fascinated me is how Maryland features a large amount of census-designated places (CDPs), which are unincorporated areas that have generally have their own zipcode as well as a clearly-defined area in which the CDP sits. I don't think that any other state comes close to Maryland in how many people live in those CDPs. Some of Maryland's well known areas, such as Silver Spring, aren't municipal corporations; They are unincorporated communities formed within the county. Here's a look at Maryland's largest "city" populations, from Wikipedia:

Rank	City Name	Population as of 2010 US Census	Municipality Type
1.	Baltimore	620,961	Independent City
2.	Columbia	99,515	CDP (Planned Community)
3.	Germantown	86,395	CDP
4.	Silver Spring	71,452	CDP
5.	Waldorf	67,752	CDP
6.	Glen Burnie	67,639	CDP
7.	Ellicott City	65,834	CDP (also the county seat of Howard County)
8.	Frederick	65,239	City (also the county seat of Frederick County)
9.	Dundalk	63,597	CDP
10.	Rockville	61,209	City

Do any other US states have high-profile CDPs like Maryland does? Outside of Baltimore, most of it's population centers are unincorporated. I can't think of any other big name unincorporated communities (there was one in California that was pretty large...), so does anyone else know what else exists?

[jwolfer]

Maryland does seem unique in that. In Florida there is many people who live in unincorporated areas but there is a smaller town or city at the core.

Baltimore County has no incorporated communities

[jeffandnicole]

Delaware has quite a number, including Hockessin & Bear. Due to the suburban-sprawl nature of these places a good distance away from major cities, they don't have anywhere near the population of those pointed out in Maryland.

[walkingman]

Nevada has quite a few CDPs, and the largest of them (Paradise) is about the same size as Reno. The four most populous ones are Paradise (pop. 223,167), Sunrise Manor (189,372), Spring Valley (178,395) and Enterprise (108,481).

[Zeffy]

Nevada has quite a few CDPs, and the largest of them (Paradise) is about the same size as Reno. The four most populous ones are Paradise (pop. 223,167), Sunrise Manor (189,372), Spring Valley (178,395) and Enterprise (108,481).

Oh wow, I was unaware that most of the Las Vegas suburbs were unincorporated - those are some very large communities!

[oscar]

Hawaii has only CDPs (Honolulu CDP the most prominent among them), with no incorporated communities, nor any local governments below the county level.

[Darkchylde]

One of New Orleans's largest suburbs, Metairie, is entirely unincorporated.

[Max Rockatansky]

Florida is infamous for CDPs all over the state.  There is generally a lot of push back from annexation or consolidation into a city.  That's why cities like Tampa and Orlando have a surprisingly low population while their metro areas are quite large.  Orange County is probably the best example of this, you don't have any huge Nevada size CDPs but a whole lot of places that probably should be annexed into Orlando proper. 

[cl94]

New York has a lot of hamlets, which are effectively CDPs. Some of these, such as Levittown on Long Island, are the size of a medium-sized city. Notably, there are very few incorporated villages and zero cities inside Adirondack Park, with Lake George, Lake Placid, Saranac Lake, Tupper Lake, Speculator, Port Henry, Dannemora and Northfield being the only incorporated villages, most of these being near the edge of the park. The rest of the settlements, including Old Forge and Ticonderoga, are CDPs.

[Zeffy]

New York has a lot of hamlets, which are effectively CDPs. Some of these, such as Levittown on Long Island, are the size of a medium-sized city. Notably, there are very few incorporated villages and zero cities inside Adirondack Park, with Lake George, Lake Placid, Saranac Lake, Tupper Lake, Speculator, Port Henry, Dannemora and Northfield being the only incorporated villages, most of these being near the edge of the park. The rest of the settlements, including Old Forge and Ticonderoga, are CDPs.

Hempstead, while not unincorporated, strikes me as interesting, because of how large it's incorporated areas are. The Wikipedia article states that if it were to become one consolidated city, it would be just ahead of Fort Worth, TX and Columbus, OH. That is definitely unique.

Florida is infamous for CDPs all over the state.  There is generally a lot of push back from annexation or consolidation into a city.  That's why cities like Tampa and Orlando have a surprisingly low population while their metro areas are quite large.  Orange County is probably the best example of this, you don't have any huge Nevada size CDPs but a whole lot of places that probably should be annexed into Orlando proper. 

I was actually shocked poking around Orlando to find that this is a true statement. I was unaware that Orange County had a decent amount of unincorporated areas.

One of New Orleans's largest suburbs, Metairie, is entirely unincorporated.

That was something I was totally unaware of. I thought Metairie was independent.

[cl94]

New York has a lot of hamlets, which are effectively CDPs. Some of these, such as Levittown on Long Island, are the size of a medium-sized city. Notably, there are very few incorporated villages and zero cities inside Adirondack Park, with Lake George, Lake Placid, Saranac Lake, Tupper Lake, Speculator, Port Henry, Dannemora and Northfield being the only incorporated villages, most of these being near the edge of the park. The rest of the settlements, including Old Forge and Ticonderoga, are CDPs.

Hempstead, while not unincorporated, strikes me as interesting, because of how large it's incorporated areas are. The Wikipedia article states that if it were to become one consolidated city, it would be just ahead of Fort Worth, TX and Columbus, OH. That is definitely unique.

The town of Hempstead is an oddity because, as you said, if the entire town incorporated as a single city, it would be the 16th largest in the country and second largest in New York by quite a large margin, being 3 times the size of Buffalo. The eponymous village is the largest village in the state and the parts of the town that are not part of a village make up quite a large portion of the population. The other 2 largest villages in the state lie in the town as well. No village outside of Hempstead has a population over 32,000. Levittown is one of the largest CDPs in the country and the second-largest in the northeast (behind Brookhaven). The town as a whole has a higher population density than either Columbus or Houston.

[briantroutman]

Florida's kind of an odd case because many CDPs are also CDDs–community development districts. They're not municipal governments exactly, but they fulfill some of the duties municipalities typically do (local streets, public water, parks, fire prevention, etc.) They have elected boards, can issue municipal bonds, and collect assessments from property owners.

You can think of them as either junior municipalities or super homeowners' associations.

[Brandon]

Florida's kind of an odd case because many CDPs are also CDDs–community development districts. They're not municipal governments exactly, but they fulfill some of the duties municipalities typically do (local streets, public water, parks, fire prevention, etc.) They have elected boards, can issue municipal bonds, and collect assessments from property owners.

You can think of them as either junior municipalities or super homeowners' associations.

Somewhat like Charter Townships?

Illinois has no real CDPs that rival municipalities.  It's current largest is Gages Lake in Lake County at 10,200 people.  Goodings Grove in Will County was larger at 17,000, but incorporated into the Village of Homer Glen in 2001.

Michigan has some that are big in their area, but would be small elsewhere (some of the ones in the UP come to mind).  Many others are part of charter townships (such as Okemos in Meridian Charter Township near Lansing).

[cpzilliacus]

Virginia has them as well. 

Three that immediately come to mind are Tysons Corner (now the preferred name is just Tysons, with more employment than many "traditional" cities), Reston and Dunn Loring in Fairfax County. 

West of Fairfax County are Sterling, Dulles Town Center (the place, not the airport) and Ashburn, located north of the airport in Loudoun County.

[Max Rockatansky]

Florida's kind of an odd case because many CDPs are also CDDs–community development districts. They're not municipal governments exactly, but they fulfill some of the duties municipalities typically do (local streets, public water, parks, fire prevention, etc.) They have elected boards, can issue municipal bonds, and collect assessments from property owners.

You can think of them as either junior municipalities or super homeowners' associations.

Somewhat like Charter Townships?

Illinois has no real CDPs that rival municipalities.  It's current largest is Gages Lake in Lake County at 10,200 people.  Goodings Grove in Will County was larger at 17,000, but incorporated into the Village of Homer Glen in 2001.

Michigan has some that are big in their area, but would be small elsewhere (some of the ones in the UP come to mind).  Many others are part of charter townships (such as Okemos in Meridian Charter Township near Lansing).

And they get confusing as all hell when there is a township and an actual town of the same name next to each other.  I wouldn't exactly call a Charter Township a CDP since there is some minimal form of government that goes into running them.

[rawmustard]

And they get confusing as all hell when there is a township and an actual town of the same name next to each other.  I wouldn't exactly call a Charter Township a CDP since there is some minimal form of government that goes into running them.

But a large number of Michigan CDPs are located within charter townships. At least on the west side of the state, the most prominent of these are in the Grand Rapids metro area, which are Byron Center, Comstock Park, Cutlerville, Forest Hills, and Northview. In the Detroit area, the two most populous townships (Clinton in Macomb County and Canton in Wayne County) are also CDPs.

[empirestate]

The reason for New York's situation is because our towns are perfectly active local governments, but the Census doesn't regard them as "places"–they're areal subdivisions of counties. So if a town has a large, relatively dense population, the Census designates its own place–a Census-Designated Place, indeed–to account for the situation.

This is different from the situation in Maryland, which has no sub-county tier of government besides its incorporated places, which as has been mentioned do not comprise most of the huge suburban and even urban settlements like Columbia and Bethesda. The lowest level of general-purpose government in those places is the county (though I'm sure there are various special districts encompassing these areas).


iPhone

[cl94]

The reason for New York's situation is because our towns are perfectly active local governments, but the Census doesn't regard them as "places"–they're areal subdivisions of counties. So if a town has a large, relatively dense population, the Census designates its own place–a Census-Designated Place, indeed–to account for the situation.

This is different from the situation in Maryland, which has no sub-county tier of government besides its incorporated places, which as has been mentioned do not comprise most of the huge suburban and even urban settlements like Columbia and Bethesda. The lowest level of general-purpose government in those places is the county (though I'm sure there are various special districts encompassing these areas).


iPhone

A similar situation exists in 5 of the New England states and parts of Maine. The land is incorporated as part of a town, but a CDP is designated to be more specific.

[Mapmikey]

Virginia has them as well. 

Three that immediately come to mind are Tysons Corner (now the preferred name is just Tysons, with more employment than many "traditional" cities), Reston and Dunn Loring in Fairfax County. 

West of Fairfax County are Sterling, Dulles Town Center (the place, not the airport) and Ashburn, located north of the airport in Loudoun County.

Also of note in Northern Virginia are Woodbridge and Dale City.  Further south there is Stafford (140 k people!)...

Mike

[Doctor Whom]

As long as we're talking about census-designated places in Virginia, don't forget Arlington, the second most populous "city" in the DC area.

[oscar]

As long as we're talking about census-designated places in Virginia, don't forget Arlington, the second most populous "city" in the DC area.

Since Arlington is a county, is it (or does it matter if it is) even designated as a CDP? I thought CDPs were basically unincorporated communities without their own municipal governments, which Arlington definitely is not. 

[empirestate]

As long as we're talking about census-designated places in Virginia, don't forget Arlington, the second most populous "city" in the DC area.

Since Arlington is a county, is it (or does it matter if it is) even designated as a CDP? I thought CDPs were basically unincorporated communities without their own municipal governments, which Arlington definitely is not. 

It is at the "place" level, so yeah, they do treat is as a CDP.

Census hierarchy basically has three tiers below the state level: county, county subdivision, and place. Counties and county subdivisions are areal features that account for all territory, so if there's no actual administrative feature there, the census makes one up. For example, independent cities are treated as quasi-counties to make sure there's always a county-level feature everywhere. At the county subdivision level, they typically use civil towns/townships (MCDs), if the state has them, or make up their own subdivisions (CCDs) if the state doesn't. For the former type of state, if its cities, villages etc. are independent from the towns/townships, then again the census makes up a fake subdivision to account for those cities/villages at the subdivision level.

And then at the bottom tier are "places", which do not have to be areally extensive; they exist only where there's a concentrated population. These include incorporated municipalities like cities, towns in some states, villages, and boroughs–but not any municipality that acts like a subdivision–and unincorporated places, for which, once again, the census makes up its own entities called CDPs.

So in the case of Arlington, the lowest actual jurisdiction is Arlington County, so that's the county-level entity. Arlington has no subdivisions (Virginia uses magisterial districts generally), so the census has made up a "pseudo county subdivision", the only one in the U.S., to stand for Arlington County at the subdivision level. And since Arlington also has no municipalities in it, the population center that is Arlington is regarded as one whole CDP at the place level.

[cl94]

Arlington is also such a unique case in that it is effectively an independent city. It might be structured as a county, but the difference is minimal from an observer's point of view. As stated above, it is so unique that it has a single CDP covering the entire county that is, for all intents and purposes, classified as a city.

[DandyDan]

As near as I can tell, all Air Force bases are CDP's, and perhaps all military bases are.

[bandit957]

I think some villages on native reservations are also CDP's.

The Midwest actually has relatively few CDP's, but suburban Cincinnati has some.

A lot of CDP's sound like they might just be huge homeowners' associations that aren't accountable to anyone.