Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into 72 municipalities; the ...

is a state in Northwestern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

that is divided into 72

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 ...

. 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 inc ...

, it is the eighteenth most populated state with inhabitants and the 2nd largest by land area spanning . Municipalities in Sonora are administratively autonomous of the state according to the 115th article of the 1917 Constitution of Mexico. 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 cit ...

(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 Hermosillo, with 936,263 residents (31.79% of the state's total), while the smallest is Onavas with 365 residents. The largest municipality by land area is also Hermosillo which spans , and the smallest is San Felipe de Jesús with . The newest municipalities are Benito Juárez and San Ignacio Río Muerto, established in 1996.

Municipalities

File:Catedral_de_la_Asunción_en_Hermosillo,_Sonora._México._02.JPG, alt=Hermosillo Cathedral, Hermosillo, capital and largest municipality by population in Sonora. File:Laguna del Nainari.jpg, alt=Nainari Lake, Cajeme, second largest municipality by population. File:Visit_Nogales.jpg, alt=Visit Nogales, Nogales, third largest municipality by population. File:Playa_en_Golfo_de_Santa_Clara.jpg, alt=Beach in Golfo de Santa Clara,

San Luis Río Colorado San Luis Río Colorado is a city and also the name of its surrounding municipality in the state of Sonora, Mexico. In the 2020 census, the city had a population of 176,685. The city is the fourth-largest community in the state, and the municip ...

, fourth largest municipality by population.

Notes

References

{{Portal bar, Mexico