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Main articles: Political divisions of Mexico and Mexican state name etymologies
The United Mexican States are a federation of thirty-one free and sovereign states, which form a union that exercises jurisdiction over the Federal District and other territories. Each state has its own Constitution and Congress, as well as a judiciary, and its citizens elect by direct voting, a governor for a six-year term, as well as representatives to their respective unicameral state congresses, for three-year terms.[62]The states are also divided into municipalities, the smallest administrative political entity in the country, governed by a mayor or municipal president (Presidente municipal), elected by its residents by plurality.[63] Municipalities can be further subdivided into non-autonomous boroughs or in semi-autonomous auxiliary presidencies.
Constitutionally, Mexico City, as the capital and seat of the federal powers, is the Federal District, a special political division that belongs to the federation as a whole and not to a particular state, and as such, has more limited local rule than the nation's states.[64] Since 1987, it has progressively gained a greater degree of autonomy, and residents now elect a head of government and representatives of a Legislative Assembly directly. Unlike the states, the Federal District does not have a Constitution but a Statute of Government. Mexico City is coterminous and coextensive with the Federal District.
| Administrative Divisions of Mexico | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Capital | State | Capital | State | Capital | State | Capital |
 Aguascalientes | Aguascalientes |  Federal District | Mexico City |  Morelos | Cuernavaca |  Sinaloa | Culiacán |
 Baja California | Mexicali |  Durango | Durango |  Nayarit | Tepic |  Sonora | Hermosillo |
 Baja California Sur | La Paz |  Guanajuato | Guanajuato |  Nuevo León | Monterrey |  Tabasco | Villahermosa |
 Campeche | Campeche |  Guerrero | Chilpancingo |  Oaxaca | Oaxaca |  Tamaulipas | Ciudad Victoria |
 Chiapas | Tuxtla Gutiérrez |  Hidalgo | Pachuca |  Puebla | Puebla |  Tlaxcala | Tlaxcala |
 Chihuahua | Chihuahua |  Jalisco | Guadalajara |  Querétaro | Querétaro |  Veracruz | Xalapa |
 Coahuila | Saltillo |  Mexico State | Toluca |  Quintana Roo | Chetumal |  Yucatán | Mérida |
 Colima | Colima |  Michoacán | Morelia |  San Luis Potosí | San Luis Potosí |  Zacatecas | Zacatecas |
