A county, in the United States, is a form of government that is right below the state. 48 out of the 50 states in the United States use counties. Louisiana calls its counties "parishes" while Alaska got rid of counties and only uses boroughs. Both of these are equal to the county. The list that the U.S. Census Bureau keeps that lists all of the counties in the United States says that there are 3,481 counties or other kinds of divisions that are equal to the county in the United States.