Morelos Morelos (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Morelos), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 36 municipalities and its capital city is Cuer ...

is a

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

in South Central

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

that is currently divided into 36

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

. According to the 2020 Mexican

Census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

, it is the twenty-third most populated state with inhabitants and the third smallest by land area spanning . Municipalities in Morelos are administratively autonomous of the state according to the 115th article of the 1917

Constitution of Mexico The Constitution of Mexico, formally the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States ( es, Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the current constitution of Mexico. It was drafted in Santiago de Querétaro, in th ...

. Every three years, citizens elect a

municipal president A ''presidente municipal'' (English: "municipal president") is the chief of government of municipios in Mexico. This title was also used in the Philippines under the Spanish and American colonization; it is comparable to a mayor of the town or city ...

(Spanish: ''presidente municipal'') by a

plurality voting Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which a candidate, or candidates, who poll more than any other counterpart (that is, receive a plurality), are elected. In systems based on single-member districts, it elects just one member per ...

system who heads a concurrently elected municipal council (''ayuntamiento'') responsible for providing all the public services for their constituents. The municipal council consists of a variable number of trustees and councillors (''regidores y síndicos''). Municipalities are responsible for public services (such as water and sewerage), street lighting, public safety, traffic, and the maintenance of public parks, gardens and cemeteries. They may also assist the state and federal governments in education, emergency fire and medical services, environmental protection and maintenance of monuments and historical landmarks. Since 1984, they have had the power to collect property taxes and user fees, although more funds are obtained from the state and federal governments than from their own income. The largest municipality by population is

Cuernavaca Cuernavaca (; nci-IPA, Cuauhnāhuac, kʷawˈnaːwak "near the woods", ) is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. The city is located around a 90-minute drive south of Mexico City using the Federal Highway 95D. The na ...

, with 378,476 residents (19.19% of the state population), while the smallest is

Tetecala Tetecala is a city in the Mexican state of Morelos. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality, with which it shares a name. The toponym Tetecala comes from a Nahuatl name and means "place of stone houses". The full ...

with 7,617 residents. The largest municipality by land area is

Tlaquiltenango Tlaquiltenango is a city in the Mexican state of Morelos. It is south of Mexico city and southeast of Cuernavaca, the state capital via Mexican Federal Highway 95D. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality, with ...

which spans , and the smallest is

Hueyapan San Andrés Hueyapan is a small town in the rural northeastern part of the Mexican state of Morelos, formerly in the municipality of Tetela del Volcán. It lies at an elevation of ca 2000–2500 metres above sea level on the southern slopes of t ...

with . On November 9, 2017, the state legislature approved the creation of four indigenous municipalities (

Coatetelco Coatetelco or Cuatetelco is a pre-Hispanic archaeological site located next to the Coatetelco Lagoon, two kilometers from Alpuyeca, in the Miacatlán municipality, Morelos, Mexico, near Xochicalco. It had its greatest development between 500 a ...

, Xoxocotla,

and

Tetelcingo Tetelcingo is a town in Cuautla, Morelos, Mexico. Located about 6 kilometers north of the city of Cuautla, Tetelcingo and the neighborhoods Colonia Cuauhtémoc and Colonia Lázaro Cárdenas are practically swallowed up in the urban area. Tetelcingo ...

), effective on January 1, 2019. However, due to objections by authorities in Cuautla, it was decided on July 26, 2018 that Tetelcingo would not be included in the list of new municipalities.

Municipalities

File:2006_03_17_Cuernavaca_Casa_de_Cortés_1.JPG, alt=Palacio de Cortés, Cuernavaca,

, largest municipality by population in Morelos. File:Ex-Convento_Franciscano_de_Santiago_Apostol_-_Jiutepec,_Morelos..jpg, alt=Ex-Convento Santiago Apóstol, Jiutepec,

Jiutepec Jiutepec is a city and its surrounding municipality in the Mexican state of Morelos. The name ''Jiutepec'' comes from the Nahuatl name ''Xiutepetl'', which means "the precious stones hill". The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrou ...

, second largest municipality by population. File:Escultura_de_Zapata.jpg, alt=Zapata statue, Cuautla, Cuautla, third largest municipality by population. File:Xochicalco_-_panoramio.jpg, alt=Xochicalco ruins,

Temixco Temixco is the fourth-largest city in the Mexican state of Morelos. It stands at in the west-northwest part of the state. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality, with which it shares a name. The municipality rep ...

, fourth largest municipality by population.

Notes

References

{{Portal bar, Mexico