Survey townships are generally referred to by a number based on the Public Land Survey System (PLSS). Main article: Survey township Diagram of survey township Hierarchy of systemic numbering in the PLSS Provided certain conditions are met, a charter township is mostly exempt from annexation to contiguous cities or villages, and carries additional rights and responsibilities of home rule.

A charter township, found only in the state of Michigan, is similar to a civil township.

Civil townships are generally given a name, sometimes written with the included abbreviation 'Twp'.

Counties are the primary divisional entities in many states, thus the powers and organization of townships varies from state to state. A civil township is a unit of local government, generally a civil division of a county.

A survey township is nominally six by six miles square, or 23,040 acres. A survey township is simply a geographic reference used to define property location for deeds and grants as surveyed and platted by the General Land Office (GLO).Term for several types of geographic areasĪ township in some states of the United States is a small geographic area.

Definition of township