* Updates for this datas series are no longer available beginning with 2007. The Census Bureau discontinued its long-running practice of issuing finance data for individual local governments.

Years Available: 1999–2010

Permanent Link: http://data.sagepub.com/sagestats/6678

General Notes: Data for more counties are typically available in years of the Census of Governments, such as 1997, 2002, and 2007. As a result, the median value is typically lower for those years due to the influx of smaller governments. Some data series from this source may also see an increase in counties in 2000, leading to a similar drop in the median value. *Median value gives the value for the "average" county for this metric, the 50th percentile of all counties reporting data. **This classification applies only to libraries operated by county governments for use by the general public. School and law libraries are included in the "Elementary and secondary education" or "Higher education" and "Judicial and legal" categories, respectively. Employment, as used in this report, refers to all persons gainfully employed by and performing services for a county government. Employees include all persons paid for personal services performed, including persons paid from federally funded programs, paid elected officials, persons in a paid leave status, and persons paid on a per meeting, annual, semiannual, or quarterly basis.