California County Map: All 58 Counties

California’s 58 counties fall into two fundamental legal classes: 44 General Law counties and 14 Charter counties. General Law counties are strictly bound by the California Government Code, requiring identical elected officer positions: Sheriff, District Attorney, Assessor, Auditor-Controller, Treasurer-Tax Collector, and Clerk-Recorder.

Charter counties (which include Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Alameda, and Fresno) adopt a voter-approved "mini-constitution." A charter permits the county to alter its internal governance structure—such as making the coroner, tax collector, or public administrator appointed professionals rather than elected politicians, or expanding board size.

Despite this flexibility, all 57 non-consolidated counties maintain an identical legislative body size: exactly five supervisors elected by single-member districts, regardless of whether the county has 1,200 residents (Alpine) or 10 million (Los Angeles).

San Bernardino County spans an incredible 20,105 square miles across the Mojave Desert, Southern California mountain ranges, and the Colorado River basin. It is the single largest county by land area in the lower 48 states—larger than the individual states of New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island combined.

By contrast, the City and County of San Francisco is California’s sole consolidated city-county, merged in 1856. Covering just 46.9 square miles of land at the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, it accommodates 873,965 residents (2020 Census), resulting in a population density exceeding 18,600 people per square mile—second in the nation only to New York County (Manhattan).

In San Francisco, the 11-member Board of Supervisors acts simultaneously as both the municipal city council and the county board of supervisors, combining police powers, transit oversight, and county welfare safety net programs into a single chamber.