Local Governments on TikTok: What They Post, How Often, and What Gets Watched
We looked at the official TikTok accounts of 186 cities, towns and counties in 41 states: 4,165 videos posted between May and October 2026. Here is what governments put on TikTok, how often they post, and which videos people actually watch.
- Many accounts go quiet. A third of the accounts (66 of 186) posted nothing in the last 90 days. Among the rest, the typical account posts about once a week.
- The typical video gets about 950 views, 35 likes, 2 shares and 1 comment. About half pass 1,000 views; one in eleven passes 10,000.
- A few videos carry the platform. The top 10% of videos drew 70% of all views, and the top 1% drew a third.
- Department accounts get watched more. Police and sheriff accounts get a typical 6,700 views per video, fire and parks accounts about 3,500, and main city or county accounts about 860.
- Tone matters more than topic. The breakout videos are jokes, trends and behind-the-scenes clips with real staff on camera. Topic alone barely moves a video above its account’s usual.
In this piece: Who’s on TikTok · How often they post · What they post · How many people watch · Which accounts get watched · What breaks out · Nine videos worth a look · How we measured
Who’s on TikTok
TikTok is still a small corner of local government social media. Some states restrict TikTok on government devices, and many communications teams have chosen to stay on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. The governments that are on TikTok are a mix: 160 cities, towns and townships and 26 counties, from big cities like Las Vegas and Albuquerque to towns of a few thousand people. Most are the government’s main account, but about one in five belongs to a department, most often the library (13 accounts), police or sheriff (10) or parks and recreation (8).
Audiences are small by TikTok standards. The typical account had about 1,500 followers when we added it, and three in four had fewer than about 3,100.
How often they post
Posting is uneven. A third of accounts posted nothing in the last 90 days, and another 22 posted less than once a month. The typical active account posts about once a week, and 15 accounts post more than three times a week.
What they post
Every video gets a topic from the same set of labels GovFeeds uses for Facebook posts, assigned from its caption. Events and community activities lead, at about one video in five, followed by public safety and police, parks and recreation, government information, and library programs. Compared with YouTube, where meeting recordings make up almost half of uploads, TikTok is where governments go lighter: events, people and places.
Public safety stands out for attention: it is 15% of videos but 32% of all views. Government information is the reverse, at 9% of videos and 3% of views.
How many people watch
The typical local government TikTok video has about 950 views. One in ten has fewer than about 230; one in ten passes about 8,600; one in a hundred passes about 59,000. Likes run a little under 4% of views, shares and comments are rarer, and most videos get one comment or none.
The total is driven by a few videos. The top 10% of videos drew 70% of all views, and the top 1% drew a third. So a single video can do more for an account than months of routine posts, which is a reason to keep posting even when most videos are modest.
Which accounts get watched
The clearest pattern in the data is the kind of account. Police and sheriff accounts get a typical 6,700 views per video, about eight times the typical main city or county account. Fire and parks accounts are not far behind. Departments have a natural cast (officers, firefighters, lifeguards, animals) and a steady supply of moments residents want to see.
What breaks out
To compare fairly across big and small accounts, we compared each video with its own account’s typical video. On that measure, topic barely matters: the typical video in almost every topic does about as well as its account’s usual. Video length and day of the week don’t matter much either, and photo slideshows do about 14% worse than videos from the same account.
What separates the breakouts is tone. The videos that did 50 to 200 times better than their account’s usual are jokes, trends and short clips with real staff on camera: a fire department quizzed on camera, two public works employees and a one-liner, a police department joining a trend. Plenty of them still carry real information, like an event date or a new bridge, but they lead with people and a bit of fun.
Nine videos worth a look
These come from nine governments in nine states. Each did far better than its own account’s typical video, and each is a format another government could adapt. View counts are as of October 30, 2026.
Most are under a minute, and none needs a production budget: a phone, a willing staff member and a sense of humor. The ones that carry information (the Everett bridge, Henderson’s car show) put the facts in the caption and keep the video light.
TikTok in GovFeeds
TikTok is an opt-in source in GovFeeds. Turn it on and peer governments’ TikTok videos appear next to their Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube posts, so you can see what governments like yours are making on every platform. The collection keeps growing as more governments link their TikTok accounts from their websites.
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How we measured
Data: public videos from the 186 official city, town, township and county TikTok accounts in GovFeeds, each linked from the government’s own website, with views, likes, comments and shares as of October 30, 2026. Posting frequency uses each account’s videos from August 1 to October 30, 2026. Views and engagement use the 4,165 videos posted from May 3 to October 22, 2026, so every video had at least a week to collect views. Topics are the same GovFeeds topic labels used for Facebook posts, assigned from each video’s caption. An account’s usual is the median views across that account’s videos in the same window. Department accounts were identified by account name. We cannot tell paid from organic views.
Frequently asked questions
How many views does a typical local government TikTok video get?
About 950. One in ten passes about 8,600 views and one in a hundred passes about 59,000. The top 10% of videos account for 70% of all views.
How often do local governments post on TikTok?
The typical active account posts about once a week. A third of official accounts posted nothing in the last 90 days, and 15 of 186 post more than three times a week.
What do local governments post on TikTok?
Events and community activities lead (about 22% of videos), followed by public safety and police (15%), parks and recreation (10%), government information (9%) and library programs (7%).
Which local government TikTok accounts get the most views?
Department accounts. Police and sheriff accounts get a typical 6,700 views per video, fire and parks accounts about 3,500, and main city or county accounts about 860.
See what peer governments post on TikTok.
GovFeeds collects videos and posts from thousands of local governments so you can see what residents watch and respond to, borrow the ideas that fit, and make your own version.
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