diff --git a/kubernetes_state/datadog_checks/kubernetes_state/kubernetes_state.py b/kubernetes_state/datadog_checks/kubernetes_state/kubernetes_state.py
index 84763a7217572..7e711e6393111 100644
--- a/kubernetes_state/datadog_checks/kubernetes_state/kubernetes_state.py
+++ b/kubernetes_state/datadog_checks/kubernetes_state/kubernetes_state.py
@@ -66,6 +66,18 @@ def __init__(self, name, init_config, agentConfig, instances=None):
             'unknown':   self.UNKNOWN
         }
 
+        # Parameters for the count_objects_by_tags method
+        self.object_count_params = {
+            'kube_persistentvolume_status_phase': {
+                'metric_name': 'persistentvolumes.by_phase',
+                'allowed_labels': ['storageclass', 'phase'],
+            },
+            'kube_service_spec_type': {
+                'metric_name': 'service.count',
+                'allowed_labels': ['namespace', 'type'],
+            },
+        }
+
         self.METRIC_TRANSFORMERS = {
             'kube_pod_status_phase': self.kube_pod_status_phase,
             'kube_pod_container_status_waiting_reason': self.kube_pod_container_status_waiting_reason,
@@ -84,7 +96,8 @@ def __init__(self, name, init_config, agentConfig, instances=None):
             'kube_node_spec_unschedulable': self.kube_node_spec_unschedulable,
             'kube_resourcequota': self.kube_resourcequota,
             'kube_limitrange': self.kube_limitrange,
-            'kube_persistentvolume_status_phase': self.kube_persistentvolume_status_phase
+            'kube_persistentvolume_status_phase': self.count_objects_by_tags,
+            'kube_service_spec_type': self.count_objects_by_tags,
         }
 
     def check(self, instance):
@@ -636,16 +649,17 @@ def kube_limitrange(self, metric, scraper_config):
         else:
             self.log.error("Metric type %s unsupported for metric %s" % (metric.type, metric.name))
 
-    def kube_persistentvolume_status_phase(self, metric, scraper_config):
-        """ The persistent volumes by phase. """
-        metric_name = scraper_config['namespace'] + '.persistentvolumes.by_phase'
-        by_phase_counter = Counter()
+    def count_objects_by_tags(self, metric, scraper_config):
+        """ Count objects by whitelisted tags and submit counts as gauges. """
+        config = self.object_count_params[metric.name]
+        metric_name = "{}.{}".format(scraper_config['namespace'], config['metric_name'])
+        object_counter = Counter()
+
         for sample in metric.samples:
             tags = [
-                self._label_to_tag("storageclass", sample[self.SAMPLE_LABELS], scraper_config),
-                self._label_to_tag("phase", sample[self.SAMPLE_LABELS], scraper_config)
+                self._label_to_tag(l, sample[self.SAMPLE_LABELS], scraper_config) for l in config['allowed_labels']
             ] + scraper_config['custom_tags']
-            by_phase_counter[tuple(sorted(tags))] += sample[self.SAMPLE_VALUE]
+            object_counter[tuple(sorted(tags))] += sample[self.SAMPLE_VALUE]
 
-        for tags, count in by_phase_counter.iteritems():
+        for tags, count in object_counter.iteritems():
             self.gauge(metric_name, count, tags=list(tags))
diff --git a/kubernetes_state/metadata.csv b/kubernetes_state/metadata.csv
index da33804812e50..ac9e6783b5098 100644
--- a/kubernetes_state/metadata.csv
+++ b/kubernetes_state/metadata.csv
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ kubernetes_state.resourcequota.requests.memory.limit,gauge,,byte,,Hard limit on
 kubernetes_state.resourcequota.requests.storage.limit,gauge,,byte,,Hard limit on the total of storage bytes requested for a resource quota,0,kubernetes,k8s_state.resourcequota.requests.storage.limit
 kubernetes_state.resourcequota.limits.cpu.limit,gauge,,cpu,,Hard limit on the sum of CPU core limits for a resource quota,0,kubernetes,k8s_state.resourcequota.limits.cpu.limit
 kubernetes_state.resourcequota.limits.memory.limit,gauge,,byte,,Hard limit on the sum of memory bytes limits for a resource quota,0,kubernetes,k8s_state.resourcequota.limits.mem.limit
+kubernetes_state.service.count,gauge,,,,Sum by namespace and type to count active services,0,kubernetes,k8s_state.svc.count
 kubernetes_state.statefulset.replicas,gauge,,,,The number of replicas per statefulset,0,kubernetes,k8s_state.statefulset.replicas
 kubernetes_state.statefulset.replicas_desired,gauge,,,,The number of desired replicas per statefulset,0,kubernetes,k8s_state.statefulset.replicas_desired
 kubernetes_state.statefulset.replicas_current,gauge,,,,The number of current replicas per StatefulSet,0,kubernetes,k8s_state.statefulset.replicas_current
diff --git a/kubernetes_state/tests/fixtures/prometheus.txt b/kubernetes_state/tests/fixtures/prometheus.txt
index ab0c96566708d..1992d477caf0e 100644
--- a/kubernetes_state/tests/fixtures/prometheus.txt
+++ b/kubernetes_state/tests/fixtures/prometheus.txt
@@ -812,6 +812,18 @@ kube_service_labels{label_app="helm",label_name="tiller",namespace="kube-system"
 kube_service_labels{label_addonmanager_kubernetes_io_mode="Reconcile",label_k8s_app="kube-dns",label_kubernetes_io_name="KubeDNS",namespace="kube-system",service="kube-dns"} 1
 kube_service_labels{label_addonmanager_kubernetes_io_mode="Reconcile",label_app="kubernetes-dashboard",label_kubernetes_io_minikube_addons="dashboard",label_kubernetes_io_minikube_addons_endpoint="dashboard",namespace="kube-system",service="kubernetes-dashboard"} 1
 kube_service_labels{label_app="kube-state-metrics",label_chart="kube-state-metrics-0.3.1",label_heritage="Tiller",label_release="jaundiced-numbat",namespace="default",service="jaundiced-numbat-kube-state-metrics"} 1
+# HELP kube_service_spec_type Type about service.
+# TYPE kube_service_spec_type gauge
+kube_service_spec_type{namespace="default",service="datadog-cluster-agent",type="ClusterIP"} 1
+kube_service_spec_type{namespace="default",service="ddrc1-kube-state-metrics",type="ClusterIP"} 1
+kube_service_spec_type{namespace="default",service="kubernetes",type="ClusterIP"} 1
+kube_service_spec_type{namespace="default",service="redis-db2",type="LoadBalancer"} 1
+kube_service_spec_type{namespace="default",service="redis-db2-bis",type="LoadBalancer"} 1
+kube_service_spec_type{namespace="kube-system",service="default-http-backend",type="NodePort"} 1
+kube_service_spec_type{namespace="kube-system",service="heapster",type="ClusterIP"} 1
+kube_service_spec_type{namespace="kube-system",service="kube-dns",type="ClusterIP"} 1
+kube_service_spec_type{namespace="kube-system",service="metrics-server",type="ClusterIP"} 1
+kube_service_spec_type{namespace="kube-system",service="tiller-deploy",type="ClusterIP"} 1
 # HELP kube_resourcequota Information about resource quota.
 # TYPE kube_resourcequota gauge
 kube_resourcequota{namespace="default",resource="cpu",resourcequota="custom-resource-quotas",type="hard"} 65
diff --git a/kubernetes_state/tests/test_kubernetes_state.py b/kubernetes_state/tests/test_kubernetes_state.py
index 47433b3f1357b..02a66a87f78e8 100644
--- a/kubernetes_state/tests/test_kubernetes_state.py
+++ b/kubernetes_state/tests/test_kubernetes_state.py
@@ -91,6 +91,8 @@
     NAMESPACE + '.resourcequota.limits.memory.limit',
     # limitrange
     NAMESPACE + '.limitrange.cpu.default_request',
+    # services
+    NAMESPACE + '.service.count',
 ]
 
 TAGS = {
@@ -121,7 +123,14 @@
     ],
     NAMESPACE + '.persistentvolumeclaim.request_storage': [
         'storageclass:manual'
-    ]
+    ],
+    NAMESPACE + '.service.count': [
+        'namespace:kube-system',
+        'namespace:default',
+        'type:ClusterIP',
+        'type:NodePort',
+        'type:LoadBalancer',
+    ],
 }
 
 JOINED_METRICS = {