List of municipalities in Rhode Island facts for kids

Map of the United States with Rhode Island highlighted

Municipalities in Rhode Island

Municipalities by population, according to 2020 census data

Rhode Island is a small but mighty state located in the Northeastern United States. Even though it's the smallest state by land area, it's home to over 1 million people! In fact, the 2020 United States Census showed that about 1,097,379 people live there.

Rhode Island is divided into 39 local areas called municipalities. These include 8 cities and 31 towns. Unlike most other states, Rhode Island doesn't have a county government. This means that the cities and towns handle many services that counties usually do elsewhere. Every person in Rhode Island lives within one of these cities or towns.

How Rhode Island's Cities and Towns Work

Cities and towns in Rhode Island can become official by a special decision from the state government. There's no rule about how many people need to live there for it to become a city or town. Eight of these areas are called "cities" and have their own special rules, while the other 31 are called "towns" and work in a similar way.

Since there are no county governments, the cities and towns provide important services like managing local roads, schools, and public safety.

Different Ways Cities and Towns are Run

Cities and towns in Rhode Island can choose one of four main ways to run their local government:

• Council–manager system: In this system, people vote for a group of leaders called a council. This council then hires a professional manager to run the day-to-day operations of the city or town. The manager is like the CEO of the local government. Sometimes, a mayor is also elected, but their job is mostly to lead meetings, not to manage the daily tasks.
• Mayor–council system: Here, both the council and the mayor are elected by the people. The mayor has a lot of power and is in charge of running the city or town's daily business.
• Town council–town meeting system: This system is more common in smaller towns. There isn't a full-time manager or mayor in charge. Instead, important decisions are often made by citizens directly at special "town meetings."
• Administrator–council system: This is similar to the council-manager system, but the chief executive might be called an administrator.

Largest and Smallest Municipalities

The biggest city in Rhode Island by population is Providence, which is also the state capital. About 190,934 people live there.

On the other hand, the smallest municipality by population is New Shoreham, located on Block Island. It has about 1,410 people living there all year round.

When it comes to land area, Coventry is the largest, covering about 59 square miles (153 square kilometers). The smallest is Central Falls, which is only about 1.2 square miles (3.1 square kilometers).

Rhode Island and Hawaii are unique because every single one of their cities and towns has more than 1,000 people living in it!

Cities and Towns in Rhode Island

       State capital and largest city

• Largest municipalities in Rhode Island by population
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  Downtown Providence, the capital and most populous city in Rhode Island

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  A view over Cranston, the second most populous city in Rhode Island

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  Boats and homes in Warwick, the third most populous city in Rhode Island

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  The city hall of Pawtucket, the fourth most populous city in Rhode Island

Name	Type	County	Form of government	Population (2020)	Population (2010)	Change	Land area (2020)		Population density	Year established	Year incorporated
							sq mi	km2
Barrington	Town	Bristol	Council–manager	17,153	16,310	&10000000000000005168608+5.2%	8.22	21.3	2,086.7/sq mi (805.7/km2)	1653	1770
Bristol	Town	Bristol	Council–manager	22,493	22,954	Template:Number table sorting/negative−2.0%	9.82	25.4	2,290.5/sq mi (884.4/km2)	1680	1746
Burrillville	Town	Providence	Council–manager	16,158	15,955	&10000000000000001272328+1.3%	55.03	142.5	293.6/sq mi (113.4/km2)	1730	1806
Central Falls	City	Providence	Mayor–council	22,583	19,376	&10000000000000016551403+16.6%	1.20	3.1	18,819.2/sq mi (7,266.1/km2)	1730	1895
Charlestown	Town	Washington	Council–manager	7,997	7,827	&10000000000000002171968+2.2%	36.45	94.4	219.4/sq mi (84.7/km2)	1669	1738
Coventry	Town	Kent	Council–manager	35,688	35,014	&10000000000000001924944+1.9%	59.05	152.9	604.4/sq mi (233.4/km2)	1639	1743
Cranston	City	Providence	Mayor–council	82,934	80,387	&10000000000000003168422+3.2%	28.34	73.4	2,926.4/sq mi (1,129.9/km2)	1754	1910
Cumberland	Town	Providence	Mayor–council	36,405	33,506	&10000000000000008652181+8.7%	26.45	68.5	1,376.4/sq mi (531.4/km2)	1746	1746
East Greenwich	Town	Kent	Council–manager	14,312	13,146	&10000000000000008869618+8.9%	16.39	42.4	873.2/sq mi (337.1/km2)	1677	1677
East Providence	City	Providence	Mayor–council	47,139	47,037	&10000000000000000216850+0.2%	13.24	34.3	3,560.3/sq mi (1,374.6/km2)	1812	1958
Exeter	Town	Washington	Town meeting	6,460	6,425	&10000000000000000544747+0.5%	57.47	148.8	112.4/sq mi (43.4/km2)	1641	1641
Foster	Town	Providence	Town meeting	4,469	4,606	Template:Number table sorting/negative−3.0%	50.80	131.6	88.0/sq mi (34.0/km2)	1636	1781
Glocester	Town	Providence	Town meeting	9,974	9,746	&10000000000000002339421+2.3%	54.18	140.3	184.1/sq mi (71.1/km2)	1639	1730–1731
Hopkinton	Town	Washington	Town meeting	8,398	8,188	&10000000000000002564728+2.6%	42.95	111.2	195.5/sq mi (75.5/km2)	1639	1757
Jamestown	Town	Newport	Council–manager	5,559	5,405	&10000000000000002849213+2.8%	9.45	24.5	588.3/sq mi (227.1/km2)	1639	1678
Johnston	Town	Providence	Mayor–council	29,568	28,769	&10000000000000002777295+2.8%	23.43	60.7	1,262.0/sq mi (487.3/km2)	1636	1759
Lincoln	Town	Providence	Council–manager	22,529	21,105	&10000000000000006747216+6.7%	18.12	46.9	1,243.3/sq mi (480.0/km2)	1650	1871
Little Compton	Town	Newport	Town meeting	3,616	3,492	&10000000000000003550973+3.6%	20.52	53.1	176.2/sq mi (68.0/km2)	1682	1746
Middletown	Town	Newport	Council–manager	17,075	16,150	&10000000000000005727554+5.7%	12.72	32.9	1,342.4/sq mi (518.3/km2)	1639	1743
Narragansett	Town	Washington	Council–manager	14,532	15,868	Template:Number table sorting/negative−8.4%	13.89	36.0	1,046.2/sq mi (403.9/km2)	1888	1901
Newport	City	Newport	Council–manager	25,163	24,672	&10000000000000001990110+2.0%	7.67	19.9	3,280.7/sq mi (1,266.7/km2)	1639	1784
New Shoreham	Town	Washington	Council–manager	1,410	1,051	&10000000000000034157944+34.2%	9.08	23.5	155.3/sq mi (60.0/km2)	1664	1672
North Kingstown	Town	Washington	Council–manager	27,732	26,486	&10000000000000004704372+4.7%	43.14	111.7	642.8/sq mi (248.2/km2)	1641	1674
North Providence	Town	Providence	Mayor–council	34,114	32,078	&10000000000000006347029+6.3%	5.62	14.6	6,070.1/sq mi (2,343.7/km2)	1636	1765
North Smithfield	Town	Providence	Council–manager	12,588	11,967	&10000000000000005189270+5.2%	23.80	61.6	528.9/sq mi (204.2/km2)	1730	1871
Pawtucket	City	Providence	Mayor–council	75,604	71,148	&10000000000000006263001+6.3%	8.68	22.5	8,710.1/sq mi (3,363.0/km2)	1671	1954
Portsmouth	Town	Newport	Council–manager	17,871	17,389	&10000000000000002771867+2.8%	22.98	59.5	777.7/sq mi (300.3/km2)	1638	1640
Providence	City	Providence	Mayor–council	190,934	178,042	&10000000000000007240988+7.2%	18.40	47.7	10,376.8/sq mi (4,006.5/km2)	1636	1832
Richmond	Town	Washington	Town meeting	8,020	7,708	&10000000000000004047742+4.0%	40.29	104.4	199.1/sq mi (76.9/km2)	1636	1730
Scituate	Town	Providence	Town meeting	10,384	10,329	&10000000000000000532481+0.5%	48.16	124.7	215.6/sq mi (83.2/km2)	1636	1730
Smithfield	Town	Providence	Council–manager	22,118	21,430	&10000000000000003210452+3.2%	26.31	68.1	840.7/sq mi (324.6/km2)	1636	1730
South Kingstown	Town	Washington	Council–manager	31,931	30,639	&10000000000000004216847+4.2%	56.45	146.2	565.7/sq mi (218.4/km2)	1657	1723
Tiverton	Town	Newport	Town meeting	16,359	15,780	&10000000000000003669201+3.7%	29.05	75.2	563.1/sq mi (217.4/km2)	1694	1746
Warren	Town	Bristol	Council–manager	11,147	10,611	&10000000000000005051361+5.1%	6.12	15.9	1,821.4/sq mi (703.2/km2)	1620	1747
Warwick	City	Kent	Mayor–council	82,823	82,672	&10000000000000000182649+0.2%	35.04	90.8	2,363.7/sq mi (912.6/km2)	1642	1931
Westerly	Town	Washington	Council–manager	23,359	22,787	&10000000000000002510203+2.5%	29.52	76.5	791.3/sq mi (305.5/km2)	1661	1669
West Greenwich	Town	Kent	Town meeting	6,528	6,135	&10000000000000006405867+6.4%	50.26	130.2	129.9/sq mi (50.2/km2)	1639	1741
West Warwick	Town	Kent	Council–manager	31,012	29,191	&10000000000000006238224+6.2%	7.79	20.2	3,981.0/sq mi (1,537.1/km2)	1648	1913
Woonsocket	City	Providence	Mayor–council	43,240	41,186	&10000000000000004987131+5.0%	7.74	20.0	5,586.6/sq mi (2,157.0/km2)	1867	1888
Total	—	—	—	1,097,379	1,052,567	&10000000000000004257401+4.3%	&&&&&&&&&&&01033.8200001,033.82	2,677.6	1,061.48/sq mi (409.84/km2)	—	—

See also

In Spanish: Anexo:Localidades de Rhode Island para niños

• List of census-designated places in Rhode Island