Template:Infobox U.S. county/doc

{{Infobox U.S. county}} is the standard infobox used for all county articles in the United States.

Other templates that are helpful for U.S. county articles:

• US Census population: lists the population of the county per decade.
• Coord: displays the coordinates of the county, see: § Coordinates for further instructions.

Usage

{{{county}}}
{{{type}}}
{{{official_name}}}
[[File:{{{ex image}}}|{{{ex image size}}}|{{{ex image cap}}}]] {{{ex image cap}}}
[[File:{{{flag}}}|{{{flag size}}}|border|Flag of {{{county}}}]] [[{{{flag wl}}}|Flag]] [[File:{{{seal}}}|{{{seal size}}}|Official seal of {{{county}}}]] [[{{{seal wl}}}|Seal]] [[File:{{{logo}}}|{{{logo size}}}|Official logo of {{{county}}}]] Logo
Nickname:  {{{nickname}}}
Motto:  {{{motto}}}
[[File:Map of {{{state}}} highlighting {{{map_county}}}.svg|300px|alt=Map of {{{state}}} highlighting {{{county}}}|Location within the U.S. state of [[{{{state}}}]]]] Location within the U.S. state of [[{{{state}}}]]
[[File:{{{state}}} in United States.svg|300px|alt=Map of the United States highlighting {{{state}}}|{{{state}}}'s location within the U.S.]] {{{state}}}'s location within the U.S.
Coordinates: {{{coordinates}}}
Country	United States
State	{{country data {{{state}}}|flag/core|name={{{state}}}|variant=|size=}}
Founded	{{{founded date}}}, {{{founded year}}}
Named for	{{{named for}}}
Seat	[[{{{seat wl}}}, {{{state}}}|{{{seat wl}}}]]
Largest {{{city type}}}	[[{{{largest city wl}}}, {{{state}}}|{{{largest city wl}}}]]
Other cities	{{{other_cities}}}
Government
• {{{leader_title}}}	{{{leader_name}}}
Area {{{area_footnotes}}}
• Total	336 sq mi (870 km2)
• Land	327 sq mi (850 km2)
• Water	8.9 sq mi (23 km2)  2.6%
Population  ([[{{{population_as_of}}} United States census|{{{population_as_of}}}]]){{{population_footnotes}}}
• Total	{{{population_total}}}
• Estimate  ({{{pop_est_as_of}}}){{{pop_est_footnotes}}}	{{{population_est}}}
Demonym	{{{demonym}}}
Time zones
ZIP Codes	{{{ZIP codes}}}
Area code	{{{area codes}}}
Congressional districts	[[{{{state}}}'s {{{district}}} congressional district|{{{district}}}]], [[{{{state}}}'s {{{district2}}} congressional district|{{{district2}}}]]
Website	www.example.com
{{{footnotes}}}

This blank template excludes some optional parameters that must be omitted if not used (will not work properly if left blank), plus some older parameters that still work but have been replaced by newer parameter names. It also excludes square kilometer (km2) parameters that are automatically calculated (replace "_sq_mi" with "_km2" to enter square kilometers instead and have the square miles calculated). See the parameter documentation below for more details.

The parameters are listed in the order displayed by the infobox. The exception is latitude and longitude which are not placed in the infobox, but are displayed on the upper right side of the page via the {{coord}} template.

{{Infobox U.S. county
| county             = 
| type               =
| official_name      =
| state              = 
| ex image           = 
| ex image size      = 
| ex image cap       =
| flag               = 
| flag size          = 
| flag border        =
| flag wl            =
| seal               = 
| seal size          = 
| seal wl            = 
| logo               = 
| logo size          = 
| nickname           = 
| motto              = 
| map_county         = 
| coordinates        = <!-- {{coord|lat|N|lon|W|display=inline,title}} -->
| founded date       = 
| founded year       = 
| named for          = 
| seat wl            = 
| city type          =
| largest city wl    = 
| other_cities       = 
| leader_title       = 
| leader_name        = 
| area_footnotes     = 
| area_total_sq_mi   = 
| area_land_sq_mi    = 
| area_water_sq_mi   = 
| area percentage    = 
| population_total   =
| population_as_of   = 
| population_footnotes =
| population_est     = 
| pop_est_as_of      = 
| pop_est_footnotes  = 
| population_density_sq_mi = 
| demonym            = 
| time zone          = 
| tz note            =
| time zone 2        =
| tz note 2          =
| ZIP codes          =
| area codes         =
| district           = 
| district2          = <!-- up to |district10= -->
| web                = 
| footnotes          =
}}

Parameters

The parameters below are listed in the order displayed by the infobox. The exception is latitude and longitude, which do not appear in the infobox, but are displayed at the upper right corner of the page via the {{coord}} template.

Name

These parameters specify the name of the county and state and are displayed in the infobox title as "County, State" (IMPORTANT: do not WikiLink these with [[ ]] because they are used for other purposes in the template code).

county

the county name including the word "County", e.g., Dorchester County.

type

the type, e.g., County (Borough, Consolidated City-County, or Parish for some other states)

official_name

the official name, e.g., County of Dorchester. Avoid use of official_name if it causes redundancies with county and type. Use official_name if the official name is unusual or cannot be simply deduced from county and type.

state

the state name, e.g., Maryland

Extra image

An additional image, depicting the skyline or other landmarks within a county, can be displayed near the top of the infobox. Use only the file name, without the Image: or File: prefix.

ex image

(optional) extra image (name only), e.g., Dorchester County courthouse.jpg (articles transcluding this template, but without an extra image are placed in Category:U.S. counties missing ex image)

ex image size

(optional) allows changing image size from 200px default (IMPORTANT: omit this parameter if not used; leaving it blank will cause the image to display full size)

ex image cap

(optional) a caption displayed in small text below the extra image

Location maps

The infobox automatically displays two maps based on the names entered for the county and state parameters.

1. A map of the state highlighting the location of the county. The infobox template provides the correct map for each county; the image names use the format "Map of (state) highlighting (county).svg". The image size defaults to 200px, with the following exceptions: 110px for New Hampshire; 120px for Alabama, Mississippi, New Jersey, Vermont; 130px for Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Nevada; 180px for Ohio.
2. A map of the United States highlighting the location of the state. The infobox template provides the correct map for each state, most of these are in the format "Map of USA XX.svg" where XX is the two letter state abbreviation, e.g., MD for Maryland.

If red error appears instead of a county-in-state map, there is a mismatch between the name of the county on Wikipedia and its name in Commons, most often WP using an en dash and Commons using a hyphen. This can be worked around by feeding the |map_county= parameter the name of the county as used in the Commons map file.

County flag

Main article: Flags of counties of the United States

An image of the county flag can be displayed near the top of the infobox. Use only the file name, without the Image: or File: prefix.

flag

(optional) county flag image (name only), e.g., Dorchester County flag.png

flag size

(optional) allows changing image size from 100px default (IMPORTANT: omit this parameter if not used; leaving it blank will cause the image to display full size)

flag border

(optional) set to no to remove the border from the flag.

flag wl

(optional) wikilink to the corresponding article about the flag. Brackets not necessary. If no corresponding article, just link to "Flags of counties of the United States".

County seal

An image of the county seal can be displayed near the top of the infobox, immediately below the title. Use only the file name, without the Image: or File: prefix.

seal

(optional) County seal image (name only), e.g., Dorchester County md seal.png

seal size

(optional) Allows changing image size from 75px default (IMPORTANT: omit this parameter if not used; leaving it blank will cause the image to display full size)

seal wl

(optional) wikilink to the corresponding article about the seal. Brackets not necessary.

County logo

An image of the county logo can be displayed near the top of the infobox. Use only the file name, without the Image: or File: prefix.

logo

(optional) county logo image (name only), e.g., Dorchester County logo.png

logo size

(optional) allows changing image size from 100px default (IMPORTANT: omit this parameter if not used; leaving it blank will cause the image to display full size)

County nickname & motto

nickname

(optional) the county's nickname

motto

(optional) the county's motto

Date founded

The old way of specifying this was via the founded parameter. Although that still works, the new method is via the following parameters.

founded year

syntax is: 1894

founded date

(optional) syntax is: February 1

founded title

(optional) text to replace the default heading "Founded" (IMPORTANT: omit this parameter if not used; leaving it blank will cause a blank box to left of year)

Source of county name

named for

(optional) text describing meaning of county's name

County seat

The old way of specifying this was via the seat parameter. Although that still works, a new method that automatically generates the WikiLink is shown below.

seat wl

name of county seat; the wikilink is created for you: "City" results in "[[City, State|City]]". To remove the automatic wikilink, just remove "wl" from the parameter.

Largest city

The old way of specifying this was via the largest city parameter. Although that still works (and must be used if [[City, State]] is ambiguous), a new method that automatically generates the WikiLink is shown below.

largest city wl

(optional) name of largest city; the WikiLink created for you: "City" results in "[[City, State|City]]" (unless this is the same as county seat, in which case no link is created).

other_cities

(optional) other important cities in the county.

city type

(optional) text to replace "City" in the heading; e.g., "Village" results a heading of "Largest Village".

Note

It might be better to put in "municipality" as the variable, especially when the county has different types of municipalities, so that the result shows as "Largest municipality".

Leader(s)

leader_title

(optional) the type of leader, e.g., County Chairperson.

leader_name

(optional) the name of the leader or leaders.

Area

Enter all numbers (except percentage) in raw format (i.e., 10000 not 10,000).

area_total_sq_mi

total area in square miles; km2 will be calculated automatically

area_total_km2

(optional) if specified, the square miles will be calculated automatically

area_land_sq_mi

total land area in square miles; km2 will be calculated automatically

area_land_km2

(optional) if specified, the square miles will be calculated automatically

area_water_sq_mi

total water area in square miles; km2 will be calculated automatically

area_water_km2

(optional) if specified, the square miles will be calculated automatically

area percentage

(optional) the percentage of water, e.g., 2.4% (no automatic calculation at this time, so manually divide the water area by the total area)

Population

NEW STYLE

This new field naming style is based on similar fields in Template:Infobox settlement. This new style allows both the decennial (10-year) official census and estimate census to be displayed at the same time, along with each of their references too.

Enter all numbers in raw format (i.e., 10000 not 10,000).

population_footnotes

the reference for the population_total field.

population_as_of

the decennial year for the population_total field. e.g., the year linked to the U.S. census article in the format [[2020 United States census|2020]]

population_total

the decennial population of the county. The field is meant for the decennial (10-year) official census, thus all census estimates should use the population_est field instead.

pop_est_footnotes

the reference for the population_est field.

pop_est_as_of

the estimate year for the population_est field. It recommended that only non-decennial years (ending in 1 to 9) should be used in this template. e.g., 2025

population_est

the estimate population of the county.

Population density is the number of people per square mile or km2. Must be entered manually, as the template does not currently support automatic calculations based on population divided by the land area.

population_density_sq_mi

population per square mile, e.g., 5000, which displays "5,000/sq mi (21/km²)"; population/km2 will be calculated automatically

population_density_km2

(optional) population per km2

OLD STYLE

Enter all numbers in raw format (i.e., 10000 not 10,000).

pop

the population of the county

census yr

the census year for the given population, e.g., 2000 - the year is linked to the U.S. census article in the format "YEAR United States census", i.e., "2000 United States census"

census estimate yr

(optional) to be used in place of census yr for years when no U.S. census was taken; e.g., 2006 - this displays "Est." next to the year and avoids a "red link", since there is no article for "2006 United States census"

Population density is the number of people per square mile or km2. Must be entered manually, as the template does not currently support automatic calculations based on population divided by area.

density_sq_mi

population per square mile, e.g., 5000, which displays "5,000/sq mi (21/km²)"; population/km2 will be calculated automatically

density_km2

(optional) population per km2; if specified, the population/sq mi is calculated automatically

Demonym

demonym

(optional) the county's demonym, e.g., Dorchester Countyan

Time zone

The template generates standard headings for U.S. time zones.

time zone

Acceptable values are Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, Alaska, or Hawaii. Do not wikilink. There should be no reason to choose other options, as currently those are the only time zones used in the United States.

• Eastern: Eastern: UTC−5/−4
• Central: Central: UTC−6/−5
• Mountain: Mountain: UTC−7/−6
  • exception for Arizona = Mountain: UTC−7
• Pacific: Pacific: UTC−8/−7
• Alaska: Alaska: UTC−9/−8
• Hawaii: Hawaii–Aleutian: UTC−10

Using a value of |time zone= other than the six bold-faced choices listed above will place the article in Category:Infobox U.S. county using a non-standard time zone.

Codes

ZIP codes

the county's ZIP Code(s)

area codes

the county's telephone area code(s)

U.S. congressional districts

Used to generate a list of United States congressional districts (U.S. House of Representatives) in the county. The article names are in the format "(state)'s (district) congressional district", e.g., Alabama's 1st congressional district or Delaware's at-large congressional district.

district

(optional) use ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, etc.) or At-large

district2

(optional) same as above, used when county lies in more than one district

district3

(optional) the parameter names continue in this format up to district10

Official county web site

web

(optional) url for website, without "http://" and brackets, e.g., www.LaPorteCounty.org (template automatically generates external link)

Footnotes

footnotes

(optional) text to display next at bottom of infobox (no heading)

This parameter is used to place geographic coordinates in the upper right corner of the page (outside the infobox) via the {{coord}} template.

coordinates

Use {{Coord}} with display=title

Example:

{{coord|38.42|N|76.08|W|format=dms|display=title|type:adm2nd_region:US-MD_source:wikidata}}

Example

See Template:Infobox U.S. county/Sample for an example of how this infobox is rendered.

Microformat

The HTML markup produced by this template includes an hCard microformat, which makes the place-name and location parsable by computers, either acting automatically to catalogue articles across Wikipedia, or via a browser tool operated by a person, to (for example) add the subject to an address book. Within the hCard is a Geo microformat, which additionally makes the coordinates (latitude & longitude) parsable, so that they can be, say, looked up on a map, or downloaded to a GPS unit. For more information about the use of microformats on Wikipedia, please see the microformat project.

Sub-templates

If the place or venue has "established", "founded", "opened" or similar dates, use {{start date}} for the earliest of those dates unless the date is before 1583 CE.

If it has a URL, use {{URL}}.

Please do not remove instances of these sub-templates.

Classes

hCard uses HTML classes including:

• adr
• agent
• category
• county-name
• extended-address
• fn
• label
• locality
• nickname
• note
• org
• region
• street-address
• uid
• url
• vcard

Geo is produced by calling {{coord}}, and uses HTML classes:

• geo
• latitude
• longitude

Please do not rename or remove these classes nor collapse nested elements which use them.

Precision

When giving coordinates, please use an appropriate level of precision. Do not use {{coord}}'s |name= parameter.

Tracking categories

• Category:U.S. counties missing ex image (4)
• Category:U.S. counties with long url (37)
• Category:Infobox U.S. county using a non-standard time zone (0)
• Category:Pages using infobox U.S. county with a missing map (0)
• Category:Pages using infobox U.S. county with unknown parameters (8)