As of 2002, local governmental units in Oklahoma included 77 counties, 590 incorporated cities and towns, and several hundred unincorporated areas. There were 571 public school districts and 560 special districts that year.
County government consists of three commissioners elected by districts, a county clerk, assessor, treasurer, sheriff, surveyor, and (in most counties) superintendent of schools. Towns of 1,000 population or more may incorporate as cities. Any city of 2,000 or more people may vote to become a home-rule city, determining its own form of government, by adopting a home-rule charter. Cities electing not to adopt a home-rule charter operate under aldermanic, mayor-council, or council-manager systems. A large majority of home-rule cities have council-manager systems.