County Seat

At the county level in the United States, the term county seat is used in lieu of capital (for example one would say State Capital but County Seat). Even in states that use parish such as Louisianna or borough such as Alaska, their "capital" is referred to as a "seat".  The county seat is usually the home of county offices and administration though many counties have satellite offices and departments around the county. In most counties, one municipality will house the seat but in some counties that have no incorporated municipalities, e.g. parts of Virginia and Maryland, the seat will simply be a section or postal area of the county.  Some states have no county government or very small organization at the county level  such as Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont.   New York City actually has 5 counties within the city that each also refers to a borough that corresponds with the county.  While Queens Borough is Queens County and Bronx Borough is Bronx County, Manhattan Borough  is New York County, Brooklyn Borough is Kings County and Staten Island Borough is Richmond County.  In these NYC counties the seats are nothing more than neighborhoods within the county within the city that house administrative offices.  In yet other areas like Baltimore, Baltimore City is the county seat of Baltimore City County and Baltimore City County is independent of Baltimore County.