In Western Han, it administered 26 counties, including Fuyang (浮陽), Yangxin (陽信), Dongguang (東光), Fucheng (阜城), Qiantong (千童), Chonghe (重合), Nanpi (南皮), Ding (定), Zhangwu (章武), Zhongyi (中邑), Gaocheng (高成), Gaole (高樂), Canhu (參戶), Chengping (成平), Liu (柳), Linle (臨樂), Dongpingshu (東平舒), Chongping (重平), Anci (安次), Xiushi (脩市), Wen'an (文安), Jingcheng (景成), Shuzhou (束州), Jiancheng (建成), Zhangxiang (章鄉) and Puling (蒲領).
By 140 AD, the number of counties had decreased to 8, including Nanpi, Gaocheng, Chonghe, Fuyang, Dongguang, Zhangwu, Yangxin and Xiu (脩, formerly part of Xindu Commandery), and the number of households to 132,389.
[3] In Northern Wei, the commandery was renamed to Cangshui (滄水) during Emperor Taiwu's reign, but the name was changed back in 497.
In Sui and Tang dynasties, Bohai Commandery became an alternative name of Cang Prefecture (滄州), which lied on the coast of the Bohai Sea, and from which modern Cangzhou derives its name.
In 741 AD, it consisted of 7 counties, and the population was 825,705, or 124,024 households according to Tang official census figures.