Geographic identity
Counties and incorporated places have stable official IDs; communities, parcel geometry and boundary vintages remain separate work.
A place name or postal address never substitutes for a jurisdiction boundary.
Measured coverage · Visible gaps
How complete is CountyWiki?
Geographic coverage, directory identities and detailed service information are measured separately.
County and city identities cover the cited statewide geographic baseline. Detailed service coverage is partial. Historical district directories, current state profiles and source-reported contacts have different evidence dates; none establishes every service for every address.
Government types
Entries include independent governments and dependent public bodies. Counts are not a legal count of independent California governments.
57County governmentDirectory records available482City or townDirectory records available1Consolidated city and countyDirectory records available2,949Independent special districtDirectory records available935School districtDirectory records available58County office of educationDirectory records available66Other public education entityDirectory records available72Community college districtDirectory records available236State department or public bodyDirectory records available58Superior CourtDirectory records available108Tribal governmentDirectory records available0Federal agencyInventory not yet reviewed1Joint powers or regional bodyDirectory records available0Dependent special districtInventory not yet reviewed2Other reviewed public authorityDirectory records available
Source universes and denominators
“Complete” below refers only to the stated source collection, vintage and import rules. It does not imply all agencies or all current services.
| Collection | Reconciled rows | Vintage | Scope and limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| County governments | 57 / 57 | 2026 | 57 county governments; San Francisco is represented once with municipalities. Roster fields are self-reported by local jurisdictions; officeholders and election districts are not imported. |
| Incorporated cities and towns | 483 / 483 | 2026 | All 483 incorporated places in the January 1, 2026 Census file, reconciled to the 2026 California Roster. A city name does not establish utility, school district, police-contract or parcel jurisdiction. San Francisco is one consolidated city-county entity. |
| Independent special districts | 2,949 / 2,949 | 2022 | All California rows in the Special District worksheet of the 2022 Census of Governments. Historical baseline. Excludes dependent districts and many joint-powers or other bodies not independently counted by Census. County is a directory location, not the service boundary. |
| Community college districts | 72 / 72 | 2022 | California independent school-government rows classified as post-secondary by Census. Historical 2022 baseline; does not establish current district boundaries or college-campus coverage. |
| Public education agencies | 1,059 / 1,059 | Captured 2026-10-13 | All active and pending district / county-office rows in the CDE public-districts file. CDE data are voluntarily self-reported and may contain omissions or errors. Rows include dependent county offices, regional programs and state entities; they are not all independent governments. |
| Tribal governments | 108 / 108 | Captured 2026-10-13 | BIA directory rows typed Tribe with a California office state or California in the tribal name. This is a precisely scoped directory query, not proof of complete California tribal recognition or land coverage. Affiliates are excluded to avoid double-counting. Tribal governments are sovereign and are not subordinate to counties. Website fields may link to third-party directory pages. |
| State departments and public bodies | 236 / 236 | Captured 2026-10-13 | All department links in the CA.gov departments list. An entry may be a department, board, commission or another public body. It is not a separate state government, and a directory profile is not a review of all its services. |
| Superior Courts | 58 / 58 | Source snapshot 2026-10-13 | All 58 county Superior Courts listed by the Judicial Council. A court belongs to the state judicial branch. Directory links establish official starting points; record access, eligibility, fees and appointment availability are not inferred. |
| Supplemental reviewed public authorities | 3 / 3 | Reviewed 2026-10-15 | Three individually reviewed public-authority records: Berkeley Housing Authority, Lassen Regional Solid Waste Management Authority and San Bernardino County Fire Protection District. This fixed supplemental set is not a statewide JPA or dependent-district inventory. The current Fire Protection District identity has not been crosswalked to every historical Census fire-authority record; record counts are not legally unique-government counts. |
Services by topic and county
| Domain | Research tasks | Reviewed local links · San Luis Obispo | State profiles | Unreviewed tasks in selection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal and public records | 5 | 9 | 26 | 0 |
| Property and assessment | 3 | 2 | Not mapped | 1 |
| Taxes and public finance | 3 | 41 | 18 | 0 |
| Waste and recycling | 5 | 1 | Not mapped | 4 |
| Housing and homelessness | 3 | 1 | 17 | 2 |
| Planning and construction | 5 | 2 | Not mapped | 4 |
| Water, sewer and energy | 7 | 7 | Not mapped | 3 |
| Health and public health | 9 | 22 | 51 | 1 |
| Benefits and family services | 17 | 20 | 104 | 1 |
| Public safety and disasters | 5 | 5 | 44 | 3 |
| Courts and legal help | 6 | 6 | 12 | 2 |
| Business and licensing | 7 | 18 | 45 | 2 |
| Jobs and unemployment | 3 | 31 | 42 | 0 |
| Transportation and vehicles | 11 | 16 | 22 | 3 |
| Education and training | 4 | 7 | 29 | 3 |
| Libraries, parks and recreation | 3 | Not reviewed | 11 | 3 |
| Environment and natural resources | 4 | Not reviewed | 28 | 4 |
| Elections and representation | 2 | 2 | Not mapped | 0 |
| Animal services | 2 | Not reviewed | Not mapped | 2 |
| Veterans services | 6 | 5 | Not mapped | 1 |
| Aging and disability | 25 | 28 | Not mapped | 5 |
| Immigration and citizenship | 1 | Not reviewed | 41 | 1 |
| Consumer rights and complaints | 3 | 11 | 5 | 0 |
| Government, meetings and accountability | 4 | Not reviewed | 48 | 4 |
A state profile can appear in multiple topics. Local links may share a provider. Counts measure sourced links, not address-level service coverage.
Depth of the detailed office guides
| Field | Offices with evidence | Office-guide denominator |
|---|---|---|
| Official service link | 1202 | 1202 |
| At least one contact field | 1087 | 1202 |
| Phone + address + hours | 366 | 1202 |
| Fee item | 434 | 1202 |
| Form or document | 643 | 1202 |
Separately, the government directory contains 3,765 quoted contact fields. Contact fields and directory identities do not increase the detailed-office completeness counts above.
Requirements still to be researched
These service-specific fields have a citation-bound schema. A missing record means unreviewed, not unrestricted or unavailable.
| Requirement field | Reviewed records |
|---|---|
| eligibility | 3157 |
| required document | 2019 |
| processing time | 697 |
| appointment | 259 |
| deadline | 1314 |
| language | 476 |
| accessibility | 138 |
| payment method | 812 |
| appeal | 144 |
| availability | 3542 |
The data dimensions
These rules define what must be known before a claim can be treated as complete. “Implemented” refers to the contract and checks; it is not a claim of universal data coverage.
Government and agency identity
Every identity is tied to an authoritative directory row and deduplicated within its defined universe.
Directories are separately scoped; dependent districts, JPAs and federal entities are not assumed complete.
Jurisdiction and service territory
Legal jurisdiction, directory location and reviewed service territory are distinguished; exact applicability requires boundary evidence.
A county association cannot mean countywide service. A service inherits the reviewed office scope only until its own geography is reviewed; that fallback is not a completed program-specific boundary review.
Functions and service taxonomy
Every task has a domain and provider role; roles requiring separate evidence have a jurisdiction-matched citation. Taxonomy membership remains independent of actual service evidence.
No role-only match counts as a reviewed service.
Official service entry points
A precise saved link supports each entry point, separated from detailed application guidance.
A directory listing does not prove a program is open or the user is eligible.
Contact information
Each phone, address and hours value has its own traceable citation; each is measured separately.
Missing telephone, address or hours remains missing; never fill from another office.
Fees and payment conditions
Currency, unit, conditions, effective date and payment method are individually evidenced.
Unknown is not zero, free or included.
Forms and required documents
Distinguish a linked form from its current version and the documents actually required.
A linked PDF is not automatically downloaded, reviewed or required.
Eligibility and audience
Residence, age, income, household and other eligibility conditions are scoped to a specific program and source.
Do not infer eligibility from a directory location or a search match.
Delivery and appointments
Evidence establishes the channel and any appointment requirement for the exact service.
A website or directory profile is not proof of an online transaction.
Availability and processing
Open/closed status, deadlines, processing estimates and validity periods have dated evidence.
Fetching successfully never establishes application availability.
Language and accessibility
Language support and accessibility are service-specific cited facts.
No general accessibility or multilingual claim is inferred from the agency name.
Provider and government relationships
Parent government, consolidated roles and shared providers keep one stable identity with explicit associations.
Contracts, successor entities and joint-powers membership need separate reconciliation.
Evidence and source version
Immutable bytes, excerpt, row/page/link and review method support each published claim.
A newer fetch cannot silently replace reviewed evidence or advance the review date.
Freshness and lifecycle
Source vintage, agent review date and refresh target are separately visible; changes require reconciliation.
Historical baselines remain visibly historical until revalidated.
Coverage and missing data
Use denominator-based directory checks and separate county/domain/field coverage; pagination completeness is distinct.
No single completeness percentage claims every government or service is covered.