Los Alamos County employs over 500 full-time employees to support the local government and its services. The County is a unique blend of city and county government under a home rule charter that encompasses two areas the townsite of Los Alamos and the community of White Rock. Los Alamos County is the smallest county in New Mexico.

While Los Alamos National Laboratory lies just across the Los Alamos Canyon bridge (sometimes called the Omega bridge) the laboratory is operated by the Department of Energy separately from any County jurisdiction or government. However,the County Council and Administration work closely with LANL to share common services, interests, and concerns for residents -- because many of the Laboratory's employees live in Los Alamos and White Rock.

With slightly over 50 years as a local government Los Alamos County is relatively young in its role as a municipality/county and has a unique situation in the fact that the County has inherited nearly all of the townsite's infrastructure and systems first built by the Atomic Energy Commission during the days of the Manhattan Project in World War II. The County is organized to provide a wide variety of services -- from Fire and Police protection, to engineering, public works, and its own utilities system.