County Government
Unlike the rest of the nation, New England states generally don’t follow a county government system. Citizens in Massachusetts typically engage directly with a state or municipal office, not a county office. Most Massachusetts county government offices have been abolished entirely, holding no separate county budget.
For example: With Massachusetts state roads, numbered routes are usually managed by the MassDOT Highway Division, while individual communities care for any non-state roads within their borders.
County Resources
- List of counties and the communities within each county
- Statewide map of Massachusetts counties (PDF)
- Historical data on the incorporation and abolishment of counties in Massachusetts
Intact County Governments
- Barnstable County (established as the Cape Cod Regional Government)
- Bristol County
- Dukes County
- Nantucket County
- Norfolk County
- Plymouth County
Defunct County Governments
Though these counties still exist geographically, their offices are administratively placed under certain state Secretariats.
- Citizens in these abolished counties still elect Registers of Deeds, though the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office administers those Registers’ budgets.
- Any sheriffs elected within these counties, along with the county houses of corrections, are managed by the Executive Office of Public Safety.
- Some municipalities in these counties have formed regional compacts to share services.
List of Defunct County Governments
- Berkshire County
- Essex County
- Franklin County
- Hampden County
- Hampshire County
- Middlesex County
- Suffolk County
- Worcester County
List of Regional Governmental Compacts
- Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, serving municipalities in Berkshire County
- Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission, serving municipalities in Worcester County
- Franklin Regional Council of Governments, serving municipalities in Franklin County
- Merrimack Valley Planning Commission, serving municipalities in Essex County
- Metropolitan Area Planning Council, serving municipalities in Suffolk, Norfolk, and Essex Counties
- Montachusett Regional Planning Commission, serving municipalities in Worcester and Middlesex Counties
- Northern Middlesex Council of Governments, serving municipalities in Middlesex County
- Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, serving municipalities in Hampden and Hampshire Counties