Formed November 1, 1683 (3rd county)
Kings County (2,736,075), Brooklyn (2,736,075)
The 1958 courthouse replaced an 1896 classic structure. The courthouse is on Adams Street between Willoughby and Johnson streets. Interstate Highway 278 is 10 blocks west of the courthouse. Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon are the architects. A 1932 Criminal Courthouse, a 1959 Civil Courthouse, and a 2005 District Courthouse augment the county facility. Kings County was an original county. The county is named for King Charles II of England. Brooklyn is derived from the Dutch name for “broken land.” Like all of the New York City counties, there is not a distinction for the county seat other than the neighborhood in which the courthouse is located. Kings County was the birthplace for 2 New York Governors, Hugh L. Carey and David A. Paterson. Kings County is the center of the five counties making up New York City.
Kings County government consists of a president, an administrator, a sheriff, a comptroller, an attorney, an assessor, and a clerk (executive). It has 9 Council Members (legislative.) Ninety-two County Court Judges serve Kings, Bronx, New York, Queens, and Richmond counties and Twenty-two Family Court Judges serve Kings County (judicial.) It is on the western end of Long Island. The county center is in the Brooklyn section of New York City 2.4 miles Southwest of the downtown. The county is surrounded clockwise by Queens County and the Atlantic Ocean and Richmond County and New Jersey and New York County.
The area of the county is 97 square miles. It is 60 out of 62 in the state. It ranks 1 out of 62 in population in the state. It has a density of 28207.0 persons per square mile making it 2 out of 62 in the state. Kings County has 100.0% of its population in its incorporated areas. Interstate Highway 278 crosses the county northeast, Queens County, to southwest, Richmond County. The county looks like a fat baby bird. Kings County and the Brooklyn section of New York City are one in the same therefore there is no separate largest city. The county seat functions in the Brooklyn section of New York City. Kings County is 31.1% of New York City’s population. This county is in the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Brooklyn