What's The Difference Between A State And A City?

A city is basically an urban area, which has its own distinctive characteristics that mark it out as being different from other places of stay, such as village, town, hamlet, or state. It differs from these in terms of the population density, amenities available, infrastructure, legal status, and also size. The city essentially has three types of areas – residential areas where people stay, commercial areas where business enterprises such as shops and office are located, as well as an industrial area where the entire industrial infrastructure can be seen. Life in a city is made possible by the existence of infrastructure such as transport, education, housing, electricity, etc. in sufficiently good quantities to ensure that everyone's life runs smoothly. Nowadays, another characteristic of the city has been the slums or the shanty towns that usually spring up along its periphery, where migrants from other areas stay in their struggle to make a life for themselves in the city.

A state, on the other hand, has numerous connotations, from being a regulatory authority to a larger area where people can stay. In the current context, the latter definition seems more apt, and we will discuss this one. A state is basically a larger geographical area that contains within it the various other entities like, town, village, city, etc. The state is like a superset of all these entities, and has the authority to pass rules to ensure disciplining and governance in the areas that form its subset. For instance, Los Angeles is a city within the state of California.