Book excerpt: Abstract: Characteristics of multicounty, substate agencies that provide planning and coordinate services for local governments differ significantly between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. As profiled by the 1977 Census of Governments, those in metropolitan areas are older, serve much larger average populations, and have bigger budgets and larger, better paid staffs. However, on a per capita basis, the average nonmetropolitan agency has a larger full-time staff and a bigger budget. Metropolitan agencies spend the largest budget shares for environmental protection and transportation, while nonmetropolitan organizations spend most on land use and economic development.