Administrative Auvergne

France is divided in :

22 regions
(in French : "régions").

100 departments or districts
(in French : "départements").

36682 Municipalities
(in French : "communes").

The region

Auvergne is one of the 22 regions in France.

A region is managed by 2 authorities: a « Prefet » who depends on the state and the « Auvergne président » who is president of the "Regional Council" (In French: "Conseil Régional").

The department

Auvergne is composed of 4 departments: Allier (03), Cantal (15), Haute loire (43) and Puy de Dome (63).  You will notice that all departments are numbered, especially on the car registration plate and in the zip code.  The department is managed by the President of the "Department General Council" (in French: Conseil Général).
Each department has a « Chef lieu », which is also called « prefecture ».

 In the Prefecture, you can  

• Get an identity card, apply for a passport, change for a French driving licence and take care for all documents for your car.
• Gather information about all security matters...

As a non French citizen you should go there and check if you need to register.

The municipalities

Most municipalities are linked together through a "Community".

Its goal is to organise cooperation for the management of activities, public services or local development projects.
In terms of inter-commune relations, Auvergne is one of the leading regions since 92 % of its municipalities belong to a group. There are 99 communities (less than 50,000 inhabitants) and 6 urban area communities (from 50,000 to 500,000 inhabitants): Aurillac, Clermont-Ferrand, Le Puy-en-Velay, Montluçon, Moulins and Vichy.
As real groups for local life, today they play a prominent part in the development of the local territories, and in implementing local policies.