A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or be subject to the direct control of the federal government. This relationship may be defined by a constitution.

The reference to "state" denotes country subdivisions that are officially or widely known as "states", and should not be confused with a "sovereign state". Most federations designate their federal units "state" or the equivalent term in the local language; however, in some federations, other designations are used such as Oblast or Republic. Some federations are asymmetric, designating greater powers to some federal units than others.

Provinces are usually divisions of unitary states but occasionally the designation is also given to the federal units such as the Provinces of Argentina or Canada. Their governments, which are also provincial governments, are not the subject of this article. Many people confuse the state with city governments, and while a small ticket or small crime will be overlooked by the federal government and handled by the state or city government, that are not the same.

The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal nation with six states (and two mainland territories). Section 51 of the Australian Constitution sets out the division of legislative power between the states and the Commonwealth (federal) government. The Commonwealth government is given a variety of legislative powers, including control of foreign policy, taxation (although this cannot discriminate between states or parts of states), and regulation of interstate commerce and corporations. Since the original ratification of the constitution, the High Court of Australia has settled a number of disputes concerning the extent of the Commonwealth's legislative powers, some of which have been controversial and extensively criticised; these included a dispute in 1982 over whether the Commonwealth was entitled to designate land for national heritage purposes under United Nations agreements, as well as numerous disputes over the extent of the Commonwealth's power over trade union and industrial relations legislation.

One difference between the Australian and United States models of federalism is that, in Australia, the Commonwealth Parliament has explicit constitutional power over marriage legislation; this has been a focal point for recent controversies over same-sex marriage.

Each state of Australia has a governor, who represents the King of Australia (currently Charles III) and performs the ceremonial duties of a head of state. Unlike the Canadian lieutenant-governors, a state governor is appointed by the Monarch on the advice of the state government, not the federal government. Every state also has a parliament; most states have a bicameral parliament, except for Queensland, where the upper chamber (the Legislative Council) was abolished in 1922. Like their Indian counterparts, Australian states have a Westminster system of parliamentary government; the head of government, known in each state as a Premier, is drawn from the state parliament.

In Austria, a Landtag (state parliament) elects a Landeshauptmann, who is not only the chairman of a state government but also the representative of the federal government and responsible for the enforcement of federal legislation.

Germany has sixteen federal states (Bundesländer) with their own governments (Landesregierung).