The five counties of Hawaii on the Hawaiian Islands enjoy somewhat greater status than many counties on the United States mainland.

Counties in Hawaii are the only legally constituted government bodies below that of the state.

Unlike the other 49 states, Hawaii does not delegate educational responsibility to local school boards; public education is carried out by the Hawaii State Department of Education.

[1] Hawaiian counties collect property taxes and user fees in order to support road maintenance, community activities, parks (including life guards at beach parks), garbage collection, police (the state police force, called the Hawaii Department of Public Safety, is limited in scope), ambulance, and fire suppression services.

[5] The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code, which is used by the United States government to uniquely identify counties, is provided with each entry.