Independent city
An independent city is a city that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity. Independent cities should not be confused with city-states (such as Singapore), which are fully sovereign cities that are not part of any other nation-state. In the United States, an independent city is a city that does not belong to any particular county. Because counties have historically been a strong institution in local government in most of the United States, independent cities are relatively rare outside of Virginia (see below), whose state constitution makes them a special case. The U.S. Census Bureau uses counties as its base unit for presentation of statistical information, and treats independent cities as county equivalents for those purposes. Independent cities should not be confused with consolidated city-counties, such as Denver, Colorado, the City and County of San Francisco, California, or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
