US states with high-profile CDPs

[bandit957]

Incidentally, every place I've ever lived was in an incorporated place, not a CDP.

[cl94]

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.

Ohio and some of the surrounding states are weird in that larger cities annex nearby unincorporated places as they develop, preventing the townships from staying developed for long. That's how Columbus reached its present size. The MSA only has ~10 CDPs, even though it covers 11 counties.

[TXtoNJ]

Many, if not most of Houston's suburbs are CDPs. That includes ~40% of Harris County's population (~1.8 million)

[tidecat]

Kentucky has one unincorporated county seat, curiously named Whitley City, the seat of McCreary County.  Louisville has several CDPs, including Fern Creek and Fairdale, but they effectively were annexed by Louisville when it merged with Jefferson County in 2003.


iPhone

[noelbotevera]

It seems Pennsylvania is a little weird defining what a CDP is. This short PDF from 1965 states that there are classes of cities, and there is Second Class A, created from Scranton (which was chartered into). Scranton today has 75,803 people form the 2013 estimate, but it is still 2nd Class A. A PDF shows the different classes of cities, but CDP's seem rare. Three that I know of is Hershey (14,257), Paxatonia (5,412) and Linglestown (6,334). So I'm not sure if cities such as Chambersburg (20,360) as a 7th class city is incorporated or not.

[Zeffy]

So I'm not sure if cities such as Chambersburg (20,360) as a 7th class city is incorporated or not.

Chambersburg was incorporated in March 21, 1803.

Many, if not most of Houston's suburbs are CDPs. That includes ~40% of Harris County's population (~1.8 million)

I wonder which metro area has most of it's population in unincorporated communities/CDPs?

[tdindy88]

Washington DC?

[oscar]

Washington DC?

Not a state, or in one.

[tdindy88]

Washington DC metropolitan area. I was trying to answer the question of which metro had the most unincorporated areas.

[bandit957]

Kentucky has one unincorporated county seat, curiously named Whitley City, the seat of McCreary County.

There is one other: Burlington in Boone County, which is a CDP.

[empirestate]

It seems Pennsylvania is a little weird defining what a CDP is. This short PDF from 1965 states that there are classes of cities, and there is Second Class A, created from Scranton (which was chartered into). Scranton today has 75,803 people form the 2013 estimate, but it is still 2nd Class A. A PDF shows the different classes of cities, but CDP's seem rare. Three that I know of is Hershey (14,257), Paxatonia (5,412) and Linglestown (6,334). So I'm not sure if cities such as Chambersburg (20,360) as a 7th class city is incorporated or not.

Any city is incorporated, by definition. However, Chambersburg isn't one, it's a borough (also incorporated, by definition).

Where'd you see it listed as a 7th-class city? As you mentioned, PA doesn't have that many classes of city–but perhaps that's an old-fashioned classification for what's now known as a borough?

[kphoger]

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

Any city is incorporated, by definition.

Ergo, Honolulu is not a city.  By extrapolation, the sky is not blue and pigs can fly.

[noelbotevera]

It seems Pennsylvania is a little weird defining what a CDP is. This short PDF from 1965 states that there are classes of cities, and there is Second Class A, created from Scranton (which was chartered into). Scranton today has 75,803 people form the 2013 estimate, but it is still 2nd Class A. A PDF shows the different classes of cities, but CDP's seem rare. Three that I know of is Hershey (14,257), Paxatonia (5,412) and Linglestown (6,334). So I'm not sure if cities such as Chambersburg (20,360) as a 7th class city is incorporated or not.

Any city is incorporated, by definition. However, Chambersburg isn't one, it's a borough (also incorporated, by definition).

Where'd you see it listed as a 7th-class city? As you mentioned, PA doesn't have that many classes of city–but perhaps that's an old-fashioned classification for what's now known as a borough?

I can't post the link itself (it leads to a 404 error), but here's the search I used to find the PDF.

https://www.google.com/search?q=pa+city+classes&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

It's the 2nd link down, Pennsylvania Municipalities.

[DTComposer]

So I'm not sure if cities such as Chambersburg (20,360) as a 7th class city is incorporated or not.

Chambersburg was incorporated in March 21, 1803.

Many, if not most of Houston's suburbs are CDPs. That includes ~40% of Harris County's population (~1.8 million)

I wonder which metro area has most of it's population in unincorporated communities/CDPs?

Sacramento's metro is also about 40% unincorporated (850,336 out of 2,149,127, using 2010 census numbers).

[CNGL-Leudimin]

For another type of high-profile CDPs, Stanford CA and Notre Dame IN come to mind. Both are CDPs consisting mostly of a university.

Also, CDPs are Chinese to me, since I live in a country where every damn square inch belongs to a municipality.

[empirestate]

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

Any city is incorporated, by definition.

Ergo, Honolulu is not a city.  By extrapolation, the sky is not blue and pigs can fly.

Honolulu is not in Pennsylvania, which context is critical to the reading of my quote.

That said, it's my understanding that Honolulu is incorporated but consolidated with the county. The census, for its own purposes, this disregards Honolulu's status as a corporate entity. That allows them to separately enumerate the various settlements inside the city.

[oscar]

That said, it's my understanding that Honolulu is incorporated but consolidated with the county. The census, for its own purposes, this disregards Honolulu's status as a corporate entity. That allows them to separately enumerate the various settlements inside the city.

Not sure about that. Whatever might once have been the case -- Honolulu County is called "City and County of Honolulu", after all, so at one point there might have been a separate city government -- my quick scan of the Hawaii Revised Statutes found no current provisions for municipal incorporation, or for any local government below the county level. There's no room for the Honolulu CDP, or any other urban place, to establish its own local government, separate from its county government.

[empirestate]

That said, it's my understanding that Honolulu is incorporated but consolidated with the county. The census, for its own purposes, this disregards Honolulu's status as a corporate entity. That allows them to separately enumerate the various settlements inside the city.

Not sure about that. Whatever might once have been the case -- Honolulu County is called "City and County of Honolulu", after all, so at one point there might have been a separate city government -- my quick scan of the Hawaii Revised Statutes found no current provisions for municipal incorporation, or for any local government below the county level. There's no room for the Honolulu CDP, or any other urban place, to establish its own local government, separate from its county government.

No, it wouldn't be just the CDP; it's the whole island that's the city.

I think there's no question that there can't be any cities besides Honolulu; the only question is whether, by consolidating with county, the corporate entity that is/was the city of Honolulu ceased to be. It may not be separately incorporated anymore, but it's also not less-incorporated.

I think it's largely a matter of perspective; there may not be a legally verifiable answer.

[corco]

I know in Montana, where we have consolidated city-counties (Butte-Silver Bow and Anaconda-Deer Lodge), the consolidated entities are considered to be cities by the lawyers and insurance companies (and the lawyers and insurance companies would certainly know what's right) - represented by the Montana Municipal Interlocal Authority as opposed to the Montana Association of Counties.

Oscar would be right though - if the Hawaii Revised Statutes don't provide any means of forming a city government, then cities wouldn't be able to exist and Honolulu would be a county, no matter what it calls itself.

[empirestate]

Oscar would be right though - if the Hawaii Revised Statutes don't provide any means of forming a city government, then cities wouldn't be able to exist and Honolulu would be a county, no matter what it calls itself.

But it's already formed; there's a difference between existing and being formed. What we'd need is something stating the dissolution of the corporation. In other words, was the city actually dissolved, or did it just stop mattering when it merged with the county?

The reason I wonder is because the census specifically says that it ignores Honolulu's city status, rather than that there is no city status.

A similar case would the nation's capital: does the city of Washington still exist, since it's governmentally merged with the District of Columbia?

[tckma]

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.

This is because Maryland's laws are unique in that they provide little or no benefits of municipal incorporation, so there are very few areas that have incorporated.  Many services which are (in other states) provided at the town or city level, are provided at the county level here.  Emergency services (police, fire, ambulance) are usually provided by the county.  School districts are county-wide.

Incorporation gives a community the ability to run their own police department, and the ability to create a "special tax area" for state income tax purposes, but that's about it.  Why have your own police department when the county provides one for you?  (I'm not saying it isn't done, but it also isn't common.)  Income tax revenue is attractive, but not when you don't really need to do anything with the money.

Of course this causes some head-scratching results.  My home address, for example, is technically Westminster, even though I reside well outside the incorporated city, much closer to Taneytown.  I can drive for a half hour in almost any direction and still be in Westminster as far as the Post Office is concerned.  The (unincorporated) town of Mount Airy is located in four different counties - it's at the quad-point of Montgomery, Frederick, Carroll, and Howard Counties, with parts of the "town" in each.

This was all very confusing, having moved here from New England where everything is at the town level, all the land in a given state is part of one town or another, and counties are little more than arbitrary lines on a map.

[Zeffy]

New Jersey is interesting because every square land of land in the state is in an incorporated community. However, counties are very much so a big thing. I'm guessing the "boroughitis" phase is the reason why most of our towns/cities are incorporated.

[empirestate]

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.

This is because Maryland's laws are unique in that they provide little or no benefits of municipal incorporation, so there are very few areas that have incorporated.  Many services which are (in other states) provided at the town or city level, are provided at the county level here.  Emergency services (police, fire, ambulance) are usually provided by the county.  School districts are county-wide.

Incorporation gives a community the ability to run their own police department, and the ability to create a "special tax area" for state income tax purposes, but that's about it.  Why have your own police department when the county provides one for you?  (I'm not saying it isn't done, but it also isn't common.)  Income tax revenue is attractive, but not when you don't really need to do anything with the money.

Does that explain all the weird, tiny municipalities in the Chevy Chase area (but not the commercial center of Chevy Chase)? Are they just wanting to act as officially sanctioned HOAs?

[ibagli]

Of course this causes some head-scratching results.  My home address, for example, is technically Westminster, even though I reside well outside the incorporated city, much closer to Taneytown.  I can drive for a half hour in almost any direction and still be in Westminster as far as the Post Office is concerned.

All the post office cares about is where the mail for your house comes from. Sometimes they'll bend and add additional "acceptable" local names to a Zip Code, but the primary name for a Zip Code is almost always the post office responsible for delivering the mail.

[tckma]

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.

This is because Maryland's laws are unique in that they provide little or no benefits of municipal incorporation, so there are very few areas that have incorporated.  Many services which are (in other states) provided at the town or city level, are provided at the county level here.  Emergency services (police, fire, ambulance) are usually provided by the county.  School districts are county-wide.

Incorporation gives a community the ability to run their own police department, and the ability to create a "special tax area" for state income tax purposes, but that's about it.  Why have your own police department when the county provides one for you?  (I'm not saying it isn't done, but it also isn't common.)  Income tax revenue is attractive, but not when you don't really need to do anything with the money.

Does that explain all the weird, tiny municipalities in the Chevy Chase area (but not the commercial center of Chevy Chase)? Are they just wanting to act as officially sanctioned HOAs?

Maybe.  I'm not terribly familiar with them other than the fact that they exist, and are listed as "Special Taxing Areas" on our state income tax instructions.