The most recent county formation in Maryland occurred in 1872 when
Garrett County was split from
Allegany County. However, there have been numerous changes to county borders since that time, most recently when portions of the city of
Takoma Park that had previously been part of
Prince George's County were absorbed into
Montgomery County in 1997. Within Maryland the county is the default unit of local government. Under Maryland law, counties exercise powers reserved in most other states at the municipal or state levels. Many of the state's most populous and economically important communities, such as
Bethesda,
Silver Spring,
Columbia, and
Towson are
unincorporated and receive their municipal services from the county. In fact, there are no incorporated municipalities at all in Baltimore County or
Howard County. The county-equivalent is also the provider of public schools as
school districts do not exist as a separate level of government in Maryland. The City of Baltimore is an entity nearly surrounded by but separate from the
County of Baltimore. The City has been considered on par with the counties within the state since it became an
independent city after it separated from Baltimore County in 1851. The
Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code, which is used by the United States government to uniquely identify states and counties, is provided with each entry. Maryland's code is 24, which when combined with any county code would be written as 24XXX. The FIPS code for each county links to census data for that county. ==List of counties==