| Shafter | |
|---|---|
| Unincorporated community | |
  Shafter Location in California  Shafter Shafter (the US) | |
| Coordinates: 38°00′16″N122°42′31″W / 38.00444°N 122.70861°W Coordinates: 38°00′16″N122°42′31″W / 38.00444°N 122.70861°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | Marin County |
| Elevation [1] | 167 ft (51 m) |
Shafter is an unincorporated community in Marin County, California. [1] It is located on the Northwestern Pacific Railroad 10.5 miles (17 km) southwest of downtown Novato, [2] at an elevation of 167 feet (51 m). [1]
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not governed by a local municipal corporation; similarly an unincorporated community is a settlement that is not governed by its own local municipal corporation, but rather is administered as part of larger administrative divisions, such as a township, parish, borough, county, city, canton, state, province or country. Occasionally, municipalities dissolve or disincorporate, which may happen if they become fiscally insolvent, and services become the responsibility of a higher administration. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. In most other countries of the world, there are either no unincorporated areas at all, or these are very rare; typically remote, outlying, sparsely populated or uninhabited areas.
Marin County is a county located in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 252,409. Its county seat is San Rafael. Marin County is included in the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.
California is a state in the Pacific Region of the United States. With 39.6 million residents, California is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area. The state capital is Sacramento. The Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second and fifth most populous urban regions, with 18.7 million and 8.8 million residents respectively. Los Angeles is California's most populous city, and the country's second most populous, after New York. California also has the nation's most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The City and County of San Francisco is both the country's second-most densely populated major city after New York and the fifth-most densely populated county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs.
