While Los Alamos National Laboratory lies just across the Los Alamos Canyon 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 town site's infrastructure and systems first built by the Atomic Energy Commission during the days of the Manhattan Project in World War II.