City vs. State: Know the Difference
By Shumaila Saeed || Published on February 27, 2024
A city is a large or important town, while a state is a larger political entity, typically part of a country.
Key Differences
A city is an urban area with its own local government, focused on managing local issues and services. A state, in contrast, is a broader political division within a country, having authority over a larger geographic area and addressing state-wide concerns.
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Feb 27, 2024
Cities are characterized by higher population density, offering diverse cultural and social experiences. States encompass a variety of environments, including cities, towns, and rural areas, and thus have varying population densities.
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Feb 27, 2024
The city government typically handles urban planning, local law enforcement, and community services. State governments have broader powers, such as setting state-wide laws, educational policies, and managing state infrastructure and resources.
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Feb 27, 2024
Cities are often economic and cultural hubs, hosting businesses, arts, and entertainment. States represent a larger economic unit, with a more diverse economy that includes urban, agricultural, and industrial sectors.
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Feb 27, 2024
Cities have ordinances and regulations specific to urban issues, while state laws have a wider jurisdiction, governing all cities and towns within the state.
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Feb 27, 2024
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Comparison Chart
Economic Focus
Business, culture
Diverse, including agriculture and industry
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Feb 27, 2024
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City and State Definitions
City
A large and densely populated urban area.
New York City is known for its vibrant culture and towering skyscrapers.
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Jan 15, 2024
State
A distinct political entity within a country.
California is the most populous state in the USA.
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Jan 15, 2024
City
A center of commerce, transportation, and culture.
The city buzzed with activity as tourists flocked to its famous museums.
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Jan 15, 2024
State
A condition or mode of being, as with regard to circumstances
The office was in a state of confusion.
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Jan 14, 2024
City
A place where people live and work, often with tall buildings.
She moved to the city to pursue her career in finance.
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Jan 15, 2024
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State
A condition of being in a stage or form, as of structure, growth, or development
The fetal state.
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Jan 14, 2024
City
An area with a high concentration of services and amenities.
The city's nightlife is diverse and exciting.
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Jan 15, 2024
City
A center of population, commerce, and culture; a town of significant size and importance.
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Jan 14, 2024
State
(Informal) A condition of excitement or distress
Was in a state over going to the prom.
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Jan 14, 2024
City
An incorporated municipality in the United States with definite boundaries and legal powers set forth in a charter granted by the state.
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Jan 14, 2024
City
A Canadian municipality of high rank, usually determined by population but varying by province.
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Jan 14, 2024
State
(Physics) The condition of a physical system with regard to phase, form, composition, or structure
Ice is the solid state of water.
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City
A large incorporated town in Great Britain, usually the seat of a bishop, with its title conferred by the Crown.
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State
The supreme public power within a sovereign political entity
The state intervening in the economy.
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State
The sphere of supreme civil power within a given polity
Matters of state.
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City
(Slang) Used in combination as an intensive
The playing field was mud city after the big rain.
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State
A body politic, especially one constituting a nation
The states of Eastern Europe.
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Jan 14, 2024
City
A large settlement, bigger than a town; sometimes with a specific legal definition, depending on the place.
São Paulo is the largest city in South America.
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Jan 14, 2024
State
One of the more or less internally autonomous territorial and political units composing a federation under a sovereign government
The 48 contiguous states of the Union.
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Jan 14, 2024
City
(UK) A settlement granted special status by royal charter or letters patent; traditionally, a settlement with a cathedral regardless of size.
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State
Of or relating to a body politic or to an internally autonomous territorial or political unit constituting a federation under one government
A monarch dealing with state matters.
The department that handles state security.
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Jan 14, 2024
City
(Australia) The central business district; downtown.
I'm going into the city today to do some shopping.
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Jan 14, 2024
City
(slang) A large amount of something used after the noun.
It’s video game city in here!
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Jan 14, 2024
State
A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
A state of being
A state of emergency
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Jan 14, 2024
City
A corporate town; in the United States, a town or collective body of inhabitants, incorporated and governed by a mayor and aldermen or a city council consisting of a board of aldermen and a common council; in Great Britain, a town corporate, which is or has been the seat of a bishop, or the capital of his see.
A city is a town incorporated; which is, or has been, the see of a bishop; and though the bishopric has been dissolved, as at Westminster, it yet remaineth a city.
When Gorges constituted York a city, he of course meant it to be the seat of a bishop, for the word city has no other meaning in English law.
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Jan 14, 2024
State
(physics) A complete description of a system, consisting of parameters that determine all properties of the system.
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State
(computing) The stable condition of a processor during a particular clock cycle.
In the fetch state, the address of the next instruction is placed on the address bus.
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Jan 14, 2024
City
A large and densely populated urban area; may include several independent administrative districts;
Ancient Troy was a great city
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State
(computing) The set of all parameters relevant to a computation.
The state here includes a set containing all names seen so far.
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City
An incorporated administrative district established by state charter;
The city raised the tax rate
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Jan 14, 2024
State
(computing) The values of all parameters at some point in a computation.
A debugger can show the state of a program at any breakpoint.
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City
People living in a large densely populated municipality;
The city voted for Republicans in 1994
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State
(sciences) The physical property of matter as solid, liquid, gas or plasma.
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Jan 14, 2024
City
An incorporated municipal center.
The city council voted on new zoning laws last week.
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Jan 15, 2024
State
(obsolete) Highest and stationary condition, as that of maturity between growth and decline, or as that of crisis between the increase and the abating of a disease; height; acme.
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Jan 14, 2024
State
Pomp, ceremony, or dignity.
In state
The President's body will lie in state at the Capitol.
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State
Condition of prosperity or grandeur; wealthy or prosperous circumstances; social importance.
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State
A chair with a canopy above it, often standing on a dais; a seat of dignity; also, the canopy itself.
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State
A political division of a federation retaining a notable degree of autonomy, as in the United States, Mexico, Nigeria, or India.
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Jan 14, 2024
State
(anthropology) A society larger than a tribe. A society large enough to form a state in the sense of a government.
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Jan 14, 2024
State
An element of the range of the random variables that define a random process.
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Jan 14, 2024
State
The lexical aspect (aktionsart) of verbs or predicates that do not change over time.
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Jan 14, 2024
State
(transitive) To declare to be a fact.
He stated that he was willing to help.
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Jan 14, 2024
State
The circumstances or condition of a being or thing at any given time.
State is a term nearly synonymous with "mode," but of a meaning more extensive, and is not exclusively limited to the mutable and contingent.
Declare the past and present state of things.
Keep the state of the question in your eye.
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Jan 14, 2024
State
Rank; condition; quality; as, the state of honor.
Thy honor, state, and seat is due to me.
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Jan 14, 2024
State
Condition of prosperity or grandeur; wealthy or prosperous circumstances; social importance.
She instructed him how he should keep state, and yet with a modest sense of his misfortunes.
Can this imperious lord forget to reign,Quit all his state, descend, and serve again?
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Jan 14, 2024
State
Appearance of grandeur or dignity; pomp.
Where least of state there most of love is shown.
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Jan 14, 2024
State
A chair with a canopy above it, often standing on a dais; a seat of dignity; also, the canopy itself.
His high throne, . . . under stateOf richest texture spread.
When he went to court, he used to kick away the state, and sit down by his prince cheek by jowl.
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Jan 14, 2024
State
The principal persons in a government.
The bold designPleased highly those infernal states.
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Jan 14, 2024
State
The bodies that constitute the legislature of a country; as, the States-general of Holland.
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Jan 14, 2024
State
A form of government which is not monarchial, as a republic.
Well monarchies may own religion's name,But states are atheists in their very fame.
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Jan 14, 2024
State
A political body, or body politic; the whole body of people who are united under one government, whatever may be the form of the government; a nation.
Municipal law is a rule of conduct prescribed by the supreme power in a state.
The Puritans in the reign of Mary, driven from their homes, sought an asylum in Geneva, where they found a state without a king, and a church without a bishop.
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Jan 14, 2024
State
In the United States, one of the commonwealths, or bodies politic, the people of which make up the body of the nation, and which, under the national constitution, stand in certain specified relations with the national government, and are invested, as commonwealths, with full power in their several spheres over all matters not expressly inhibited.
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Jan 14, 2024
State
Highest and stationary condition, as that of maturity between growth and decline, or as that of crisis between the increase and the abating of a disease; height; acme.
I do not, brother,Infer as if I thought my sister's stateSecure without all doubt or controversy.
We hoped to enjoy with ease what, in our situation, might be called the luxuries of life.
And, O, what man's condition can be worseThan his whom plenty starves and blessings curse?
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Jan 14, 2024
State
To set; to settle; to establish.
I myself, though meanest stated,And in court now almost hated.
Who calls the council, states the certain day.
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Jan 14, 2024
State
To express the particulars of; to set down in detail or in gross; to represent fully in words; to narrate; to recite; as, to state the facts of a case, one's opinion, etc.
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Jan 14, 2024
State
The group of people comprising the government of a sovereign state;
The state has lowered its income tax
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Jan 14, 2024
State
The territory occupied by one of the constituent administrative districts of a nation;
His state is in the deep south
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Jan 14, 2024
State
A politically organized body of people under a single government;
The state has elected a new president
African nations
Students who had come to the nation's capitol
The country's largest manufacturer
An industrialized land
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Jan 14, 2024
State
The way something is with respect to its main attributes;
The current state of knowledge
His state of health
In a weak financial state
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Jan 14, 2024
State
The federal department in the UnitedStates that sets and maintains foreign policies;
The Department of State was created in 1789
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Jan 14, 2024
State
The territory occupied by a nation;
He returned to the land of his birth
He visited several European countries
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Jan 14, 2024
State
A state of depression or agitation;
He was in such a state you just couldn't reason with him
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Jan 14, 2024
State
(chemistry) the three traditional states of matter are solids (fixed shape and volume) and liquids (fixed volume and shaped by the container) and gases (filling the container);
The solid state of water is called ice
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Jan 14, 2024
State
Express in words;
He said that he wanted to marry her
Tell me what is bothering you
State your opinion
State your name
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Jan 14, 2024
State
Indicate through a symbol, formula, etc.;
Can you express this distance in kilometers?
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Jan 14, 2024
State
An area with its own government and borders within a larger country.
Taxes vary from state to state.
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Jan 15, 2024
State
A territorial division with sovereignty on certain matters.
The state legislature passed a new environmental law.
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Jan 15, 2024
State
A region with its own institutions and populations.
The state of Texas is known for its unique culture and history.
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Jan 15, 2024
State
A political unit within a country, having certain autonomous powers.
The state government announced new funding for public schools.
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Jan 15, 2024
Repeatedly Asked Queries
What defines a city?
A city is defined as a large, densely populated urban area with its own local government.
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Feb 27, 2024
Can a city exist outside of a state?
In most countries, cities are part of states, but some city-states exist as independent entities.
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Feb 27, 2024
Do city laws override state laws?
No, city laws must be in compliance with state laws.
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Feb 27, 2024
What is the role of a city mayor?
A city mayor is the chief executive officer of a city, overseeing local government functions.
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Feb 27, 2024
Are all cities similar in size?
No, cities vary greatly in size and population.
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Feb 27, 2024
What powers do state governments have?
State governments have authority over state-wide laws, education, infrastructure, and resource management.
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Feb 27, 2024
Can states have different laws from each other?
Yes, states can have varying laws, as long as they comply with national laws.
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Feb 27, 2024
What is a state?
A state is a larger political division within a country, with its own government and sovereignty over a certain geographic area.
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Feb 27, 2024
How is a city governed?
Cities are governed by local municipalities, which handle urban planning, local services, and law enforcement.
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Feb 27, 2024
Are cities always urban areas?
Generally, yes. Cities are characterized by urban development and higher population density.
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Feb 27, 2024
What is state sovereignty?
State sovereignty refers to the state's power to govern itself without outside interference.
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Feb 27, 2024
Can cities have their own police force?
Yes, many cities have their own police forces that handle local law enforcement.
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Feb 27, 2024
Can states have their own constitutions?
Yes, many states have their own constitutions, but these must align with the country's constitution.
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Feb 27, 2024
Do states contribute to national governance?
Yes, states play a role in national governance, often having representation in the national legislature.
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Feb 27, 2024
How do states impact education?
States often control educational policies, standards, and funding for public schools within their territory.
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Feb 27, 2024
How does a state legislature function?
State legislatures create and pass state laws, often consisting of two houses.
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Feb 27, 2024
Can a city make international treaties?
No, typically only national governments have the authority to make international treaties. Cities operate within the jurisdiction set by their state and country.
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Feb 27, 2024
How does city zoning work?
City zoning involves dividing a city into areas with specific land use regulations.
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Feb 27, 2024
What services do cities typically provide?
Cities often provide services like public transportation, sanitation, police, and fire departments, and public education.
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Feb 27, 2024
What is the difference between a city and a town?
The distinction varies by country, but generally, a city is larger than a town and has a more structured municipal government.
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Feb 27, 2024
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About Author
Written by
Shumaila SaeedShumaila Saeed, an expert content creator with 6 years of experience, specializes in distilling complex topics into easily digestible comparisons, shining a light on the nuances that both inform and educate readers with clarity and accuracy.
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