Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

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 Northwest

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 seven

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, Baja California is the 13th most populous state with inhabitants and the 12th largest by land area spanning . Municipalities in Baja California 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 ...

. Their legal framework derives from Title VI of the state Constitution and the state's 2001 Law of the Municipal Regime. 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 public services for their constituents. The municipal council consists of a variable number of trustees and councillors (''regidores y síndicos'') who govern from the municipal seat. 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. Municipalities may establish functional and geographical subdivisions called ''delegaciones'' and ''subdelegaciones'' in accordance with Article 29 of the Law of the Municipal Regime. The largest municipality by population in Baja California and in Mexico is

Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

with 1,922,523 residents, representing around half () of the population of the state. The smallest municipality by population is San Felipe: the areas which now make up San Felipe recorded a population of 18,369 inhabitants in the 2010 Mexican Census. San Quintín, which spans , is the largest municipality by area in the state and in the country. Playas de Rosarito is the smallest municipality by area spanning . The first municipality to incorporate was Ensenada on and the newest municipality is San Felipe which was formed from Ensenada and Mexicali on .

Municipalities

File:GrandHotelTijuana%26TJCountryClub.jpg, alt=Downtown

Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

, Baja California's most populous municipality File:MexicaliMetroNight.jpg, alt=Mexicali from the air,

Mexicali Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California. The city, seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali metropolitan area is home to 1,000,0 ...

, state capital and second largest municipality by population File:Puerto Ensenada.jpg, alt=Port of Ensenada, Ensenada, third largest municipality by population File:Rosarito Beach.jpg, alt=Rosarito beach,

Playas de Rosarito Rosarito is a coastal city in Playas de Rosarito Municipality, Baja California, situated on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. As of 2010, the city had a population of 65,278. Located south of the US-Mexico border, Rosarito is a part of the greater S ...

, fourth largest municipality by population File:Tecate-parque.png, alt=Tecate,

Tecate Tecate () is a city in Tecate Municipality, Baja California. It is across the Mexico-US border from Tecate, California. As of 2019, the city had a population of 108,860 inhabitants, while the metropolitan area has a population of 132,406 inhab ...

, the least populated municipality before the creation of San Felipe. The following figures do not take into account the creation of San Felipe in 2022, for which current area and population figures from

INEGI The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI by its name in es, Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática) is an autonomous agency of the Mexican Government dedicated to coordinate the National System of Sta ...

are not yet available.

Notes

References

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