Map of the United States with Rhode Island highlighted
Map of the United States with Rhode Island highlighted
Municipalities in Rhode Island
Municipalities in Rhode Island
Municipalities in Rhode Island
Municipalities by population, according to 2020 census data

Rhode Island is a state located in the Northeastern United States. According to the 2020 United States Census, Rhode Island is the 8th least populous state with 1,097,379[1] inhabitants and the smallest by land area spanning 1,033.81 square miles (2,677.6 km2) of land.[2] It is divided into 39 municipalities, including 8 cities and 31 towns, grouped into 5 historical counties that have no municipal functions as the state has no county level of government.[3][4] The entire area of the state is incorporated; all Rhode Island residents live within the borders of a city or town [4] though some communities within towns and cities are census-designated places.

Municipalities in Rhode Island can incorporate as a town or city by a special act of the state legislature and there is no minimum population requirement.[4] Eight municipalities were re-incorporated as cities operating under a charter, while the other 31 remain as towns which perform similar services.[4] Since Rhode Island has no county level of government, cities and towns provide services commonly performed by county governments in other states.[4] The state's cities and towns may adopt one of four forms of government: council–manager, mayor–council, town council–town meeting, or administrator–council.[5] The primary difference between these forms of government is how the chief executive is selected.[5] The Council–manager system involves an elected council who exercise overall control of the local government and a chief executive termed city or town manager who is generally appointed by and responsible to the council for the administration of local policies.[6] Council–manager systems may elect a mayor but they have no formal administrative functions with the potential exception of a degree of veto power.[6] Mayor–council systems have a similarly elected council however the mayor is elected and yields administrative power. In the town council–town meeting system, there is no full-time chief executive.[5]

The largest municipality by population in Rhode Island is the state capital of Providence, with 190,934 residents. The smallest municipality by population is New Shoreham on Block Island, with 1,410 year-round residents.[1] The largest municipality by land area is Coventry which spans 59.05 sq mi (152.9 km2), while Central Falls is the smallest at 1.20 sq mi (3.1 km2).[2] Rhode Island and Hawaii are the only two states in which all of the municipalities have a population greater than 1,000 people.[2]

Cities and towns

†  State capital and largest city

Name Type[7] County Form of government[7] Population
(2020)[1] 		Population
(2010)[2] 		Change Land area
(2020)[2] 		Population density Year established
[7] 		Year incorporated
[a][7][8]
sq mi km2
Barrington Town Bristol Council–manager 17,153 16,310 +5.2% 8.22 21.3 2,086.7/sq mi (805.7/km2) 1653 1770
Bristol Town Bristol Council–manager 22,493 22,954 −2.0% 9.82 25.4 2,290.5/sq mi (884.4/km2) 1680 1746
Burrillville Town Providence Council–manager 16,158 15,955 +1.3% 55.03 142.5 293.6/sq mi (113.4/km2) 1730 1806
Central Falls City Providence Mayor–council 22,583 19,376 +16.6% 1.20 3.1 18,819.2/sq mi (7,266.1/km2) 1730 1895
Charlestown Town Washington Council–manager 7,997 7,827 +2.2% 36.45 94.4 219.4/sq mi (84.7/km2) 1669 1738
Coventry Town Kent Council–manager 35,688 35,014 +1.9% 59.05 152.9 604.4/sq mi (233.3/km2) 1639 1743[b]
Cranston City Providence Mayor–council 82,934 80,387 +3.2% 28.34 73.4 2,926.4/sq mi (1,129.9/km2) 1754 1910
Cumberland Town Providence Mayor–council 36,405 33,506 +8.7% 26.45 68.5 1,376.4/sq mi (531.4/km2) 1746 1746
East Greenwich Town Kent Council–manager 14,312 13,146 +8.9% 16.39 42.4 873.2/sq mi (337.2/km2) 1677 1677[c]
East Providence City Providence Mayor–council 47,139 47,037 +0.2% 13.24 34.3 3,560.3/sq mi (1,374.7/km2) 1812 1958
Exeter Town Washington Town meeting 6,460 6,425 +0.5% 57.47 148.8 112.4/sq mi (43.4/km2) 1641 1641[d]
Foster Town Providence Town meeting 4,469 4,606 −3.0% 50.80 131.6 88.0/sq mi (34.0/km2) 1636 1781
Glocester Town Providence Town meeting 9,974 9,746 +2.3% 54.18 140.3 184.1/sq mi (71.1/km2) 1639 1730–1731
Hopkinton Town Washington Town meeting 8,398 8,188 +2.6% 42.95 111.2 195.5/sq mi (75.5/km2) 1639 1757
Jamestown Town Newport Council–manager 5,559 5,405 +2.8% 9.45 24.5 588.3/sq mi (227.1/km2) 1639 1678
Johnston Town Providence Mayor–council 29,568 28,769 +2.8% 23.43 60.7 1,262.0/sq mi (487.3/km2) 1636 1759
Lincoln Town Providence Council–manager 22,529 21,105 +6.7% 18.12 46.9 1,243.3/sq mi (480.0/km2) 1650 1871
Little Compton Town Newport Town meeting 3,616 3,492 +3.6% 20.52 53.1 176.2/sq mi (68.0/km2) 1682 1746
Middletown Town Newport Council–manager 17,075 16,150 +5.7% 12.72 32.9 1,342.4/sq mi (518.3/km2) 1639 1743
Narragansett Town Washington Council–manager 14,532 15,868 −8.4% 13.89 36.0 1,046.2/sq mi (403.9/km2) 1888 1901
Newport City Newport Council–manager 25,163 24,672 +2.0% 7.67 19.9 3,280.7/sq mi (1,266.7/km2) 1639 1784[e]
New Shoreham Town Washington Council–manager 1,410 1,051 +34.2% 9.08 23.5 155.3/sq mi (60.0/km2) 1664 1672
North Kingstown Town Washington Council–manager 27,732 26,486 +4.7% 43.14 111.7 642.8/sq mi (248.2/km2) 1641 1674
North Providence Town Providence Mayor–council 34,114 32,078 +6.3% 5.62 14.6 6,070.1/sq mi (2,343.7/km2) 1636 1765
North Smithfield Town Providence Council–manager 12,588 11,967 +5.2% 23.80 61.6 528.9/sq mi (204.2/km2) 1730 1871
Pawtucket City Providence Mayor–council 75,604 71,148 +6.3% 8.68 22.5 8,710.1/sq mi (3,363.0/km2) 1671 1954
Portsmouth Town Newport Council–manager 17,871 17,389 +2.8% 22.98 59.5 777.7/sq mi (300.3/km2) 1638 1640[f]
Providence† City Providence Mayor–council 190,934 178,042 +7.2% 18.40 47.7 10,376.8/sq mi (4,006.5/km2) 1636 1832
Richmond Town Washington Town meeting 8,020 7,708 +4.0% 40.29 104.4 199.1/sq mi (76.9/km2) 1636 1730
Scituate Town Providence Town meeting 10,384 10,329 +0.5% 48.16 124.7 215.6/sq mi (83.2/km2) 1636 1730
Smithfield Town Providence Council–manager 22,118 21,430 +3.2% 26.31 68.1 840.7/sq mi (324.6/km2) 1636 1730
South Kingstown Town Washington Council–manager 31,931 30,639 +4.2% 56.45 146.2 565.7/sq mi (218.4/km2) 1657 1723[g]
Tiverton Town Newport Town meeting 16,359 15,780 +3.7% 29.05 75.2 563.1/sq mi (217.4/km2) 1694 1746
Warren Town Bristol Council–manager 11,147 10,611 +5.1% 6.12 15.9 1,821.4/sq mi (703.2/km2) 1620 1747
Warwick City Kent Mayor–council 82,823 82,672 +0.2% 35.04 90.8 2,363.7/sq mi (912.6/km2) 1642 1931
Westerly Town Washington Council–manager 23,359 22,787 +2.5% 29.52 76.5 791.3/sq mi (305.5/km2) 1661 1669
West Greenwich Town Kent Town meeting 6,528 6,135 +6.4% 50.26 130.2 129.9/sq mi (50.1/km2) 1639 1741
West Warwick Town Kent Council–manager 31,012 29,191 +6.2% 7.79 20.2 3,981.0/sq mi (1,537.1/km2) 1648 1913
Woonsocket City Providence Mayor–council 43,240 41,186 +5.0% 7.74 20.0 5,586.6/sq mi (2,157.0/km2) 1867 1888
Total — — — 1,097,379 1,052,567 +4.3% 1,033.82 2,677.6 1,061.48/sq mi (409.84/km2) — —

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Refers to the date of incorporation of the current municipal status.
  2. ^ There is a discrepancy in dates from the two provided sources, with the Snow (1865) source listing the incorporation date as 1741.
  3. ^ This date is only found in the Snow (1865) source and is absent in the Government of Rhode Island source.
  4. ^ There is a discrepancy in dates from the two provided sources, with the Snow (1865) source listing the incorporation date as 1742–1743.
  5. ^ This date is only found in the Government of Rhode Island source and is absent in the Snow (1865) source.
  6. ^ This date is only found in the Snow (1865) source and is absent in the Government of Rhode Island source.
  7. ^ There is a discrepancy in dates from the two provided sources, with the Snow (1865) source listing the incorporation date as 1722.

References

  1. ^ a b c "Explore Census Data". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e "GCT-PH1 – Population, Housing Units, Area, and Density: 2010 – State — Place and (in selected states) County Subdivision". 2010 United States Census. United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on September 16, 2020. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  3. ^ "Rhode Island: 2010 Population and Housing Unit Counts 2010 Census of Population and Housing" (PDF). 2010 United States Census. United States Census Bureau. September 2012. p. 18. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d e "A Brief Summary of Municipal Incorporation Procedures by State" (PDF). Senate of Georgia. Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  5. ^ a b c "Municipal Charters in Rhode Island" (PDF). Rhode Island Department of Revenue: Division of Municipal Finance. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
  6. ^ a b "Council–Manager Form of Government". Town of Coventry, Rhode Island. Archived from the original on November 19, 2016. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
  7. ^ a b c d "Rhode Island Cities & Towns". Rhode Island Government. Rhode Island Interactive. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  8. ^ Snow, Edwin M. (1865). Report Upon the Census of Rhode Island, 1865: With the Statistics of the Population, Agriculture, Fisheries and Manufactures of the State. University of Michigan. p. xxvii. ((cite book)): Unknown parameter |agency= ignored (help)

External links

State of Rhode Island
Lists of cities in the United States by state or territory
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