100px|thumb|[[List of municipalities in Alabama|Alabama municipalities]]

The U.S. state of Alabama has 67 counties. Each county serves as the local level of Alabama government within its borders. The land enclosed by the present state borders was joined to the United States of America gradually. Following the American Revolutionary War, West Florida was ceded to Spain by treaty while the remainder was organized primarily as the Mississippi Territory, and later the Alabama Territory. The territorial assembly established some of the earliest county divisions that have survived to the present, including the earliest county formation, that of Washington County, created on June 4, 1800. The Alabama state legislature formed additional counties from former native lands as the Indian Removal Act took effect and settlers populated different areas of Alabama. In 1820, Alabama had 29 counties. By 1830 there were 36 and Native Americans still occupied large areas of land in northeast and far western Alabama. By 1840, 49 counties had been created; 52 by 1850; 65 by 1870; and the present 67 counties by 1903. Houston County was the last county created in the state, on February 9, 1903. The average land area is 756 sq mi (1,958&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>). The largest county is Baldwin (1,590 sq mi, 4,118&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) and the smallest is Etowah (535 sq mi, 1,386&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>). The Constitution of Alabama requires that any new county in Alabama cover at least in area, effectively limiting the creation of new counties in the state.

The Alabama Department of Revenue's Motor Vehicle Division issues standard automobile license plates that bear a one- or two-digit number identifying the county in which the vehicle is registered. This number is given in the fourth column in the table below. The first three prefixes are reserved for the state's historically most populous counties, and thereafter proceed alphabetically. Individual license plate numbers are assigned sequentially in each licensing office. The numbers are in the format XAA1111 or XXAA111, depending on whether the prefix is one or two digits. Overflow registrations are accommodated by substituting a letter for one of the registration numbers, such that XXZ999Z is followed by XXA0A0A.<!--Outdated info for current plates (2014).-->

The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code, used by the United States government to uniquely identify counties, is provided with each entry. The FIPS code links in the table point to U.S. Census "quick facts" pages for each county. Alabama's FIPS state code is 01.

Counties

<!-- NACo incorrectly claims only Elba as Coffee County seat; county website says both Elba & Enterprise are seats. -->

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Former county names

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!County

|May 9, 1817

|January 26, 1818

|Elk River

|Established by Mississippi Territory prior to Mississippi–Alabama split; abolished prior to Alabama statehood

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See also

  • List of census county divisions in Alabama
  • List of municipalities in Alabama

References

;Specific

;General

Further reading

  • Map series showing evolution of county boundaries. Cartographic Research Laboratory. University of Alabama Department of Geography.
  • Alabama Counties Alabama Counties Features. Digital Alabama