A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term municipality may also mean the governing body of a given municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district. The English word is derived from French municipalité, which in turn derives from the Latin municipalis, based on the word for social contract (municipium), referring originally to the Latin communities that supplied Rome with troops in exchange for their own incorporation into the Roman state (granting Roman citizenship to the inhabitants) while permitting the communities to retain their own local governments (a limited autonomy). A municipality can be any political jurisdiction, from a sovereign state such as the Principality of Monaco, to a small village such as West Hampton Dunes, New York. The territory over which a municipality has jurisdiction may encompass:

Political powers

Powers of municipalities range from virtual autonomy to complete subordination to the state. Municipalities may have the right to tax individuals and corporations with income tax, property tax, and corporate income tax, but may also receive substantial funding from the state. In some European countries, such as Germany, municipalities have the constitutional right to supply public services through municipally-owned public utility companies.

Terms in various countries

[New York City as well as its composite five boroughs are all municipalities.

{{legend|#4DAF4A|1. Manhattan}} {{legend|#FFFF33|2. Brooklyn}} {{legend|#FF7F00|3. Queens}} {{legend|#E41A1C|4. The Bronx}} {{legend|#984EA3|5. Staten Island}} | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/5///Boroughs///Labels///New///York///City///Map.svg]

Municipality

Terms cognate with "municipality", mostly referring to territory or political structure, are Spanish municipio (Spain) and municipalidad (Chile), Catalan , Portuguese município.

Commune

In many countries, terms cognate with "commune" are used, referring to the community living in the area and the common interest. These include terms: The same terms "Gemeente" (Dutch) or "Gemeinde" (German) may be used for church congregations or parishes, for example, in the German and Dutch Protestant churches.

Other terms

In Greece, the word Δήμος (demos) is used, also meaning 'community'; the word is known in English from the compound democracy (rule of the people). In some countries, the Spanish term ayuntamiento, referring to a municipality's administration building, is extended via synecdoche to denote the municipality itself. In Moldova and Romania, both municipalities (municipiu; urban administrative units) and communes (comună; rural units) exist, and a commune may be part of a municipality. In many countries, comparable entities may exist with various names.

English-speaking

Chinese-speaking

Municipalities by country