Humboldt County, California
Humboldt County · Eureka is the seat · Sacramento is the capital of California · Arcata is a city · Fortuna is a city · Pelican Bay is Del Norte CDCR · Del Norte is a different county
Eureka is the seat. Sacramento is the capital. Arcata is a city, not the hall.
Humboldt County, California, was created 12 May 1853 from Trinity, and named for Alexander von Humboldt — the bay and the redwood coast, not Arcata as the whole county. Eureka is the county seat. Sacramento is the capital of California. Eureka is not the capital. Arcata is not the seat. Fortuna is not the seat. Do not read this page as Autauga-with-fog. Do not read this page as Del Norte-with-a-rename. Do not read this page as Alameda-with-redwoods. Prattville is Autauga. Crescent City is Del Norte. Oakland is Alameda. None of those is this oval.
Arcata is a city — not the hall. Fortuna is a city — not the hall. The City of Eureka is a municipality — not the whole county government. Rio Dell, Ferndale, Blue Lake, and Trinidad are cities — not the hall. McKinleyville, Garberville, Willow Creek, Redway, and the remainder are unincorporated communities — remainder, not a second seat. The Hoopa Valley Reservation is tribal land — not this Board as a second government. Del Norte is north — Crescent City is that hall. Pelican Bay is that county’s CDCR institution, not this one. Trinity is east — Weaverville is that hall. Mendocino is south — Ukiah is that hall.
This page is Side One for the place. The Sheriff’s job — redwood-coast remainder patrol and the Fifth Street correctional facility this badge still holds — is taught at Office of the Sheriff — Humboldt County.
Five Supervisors at 825 Fifth. They do not sit as the State Assembly.
Humboldt is a general law county. A five-member Board of Supervisors, elected by district, sits at 825 Fifth Street, Room 111, Eureka, CA 95501 — chambers on the first floor of the courthouse. They fund roads, the Fifth Street courthouse campus, and the Sheriff’s budget. They do not hire the Sheriff. The people do. Eureka City Council is a city body. Arcata City Council is a city body. Fortuna City Council is a city body. The California Legislature sits in Sacramento. Del Norte’s Board sits in Crescent City. None of those is this Board.
Humboldt Superior Court lists the main courthouse at 825 Fifth Street and the Clerk’s Office at 421 I Street. Do not invent one redwood as the whole map. Do not invent an Arcata plaza as this court. Confirm live at humboldtgov.org and humboldt.courts.ca.gov.
The Sheriff is a county officer (California Constitution Article XI; Government Code § 24000). This Sheriff is not on the 2026 gubernatorial table. Elections Code § 1300 (AB 759, 2022) moved sheriff and district attorney to the presidential primary. A sheriff elected in 2022 serves a six-year term; the next regular is the 2028 presidential primary. Humboldt has no charter that could have locked a gubernatorial-year date before 1 January 2021. Last regular 7 June 2022. Take office at noon on the first Monday after January 1 succeeding election (Gov. Code § 24200). The Governor is 2026. That is a different desk in Sacramento.
Humboldt Bay is water. Fortuna is a city. Del Norte is a different county.
U.S. 101 is the spine. State Route 299 climbs east toward Willow Creek and Trinity. State Route 36 and State Route 96 are remainder roads, not a second county. Humboldt Bay is water, not a Del Norte badge. The Eel, the Mad, the Van Duzen, and the Trinity (on this map’s east) are rivers. Redwood National and State Parks and the Avenue of the Giants are a park system — not this government. Cal Poly Humboldt is a campus in Arcata — not this government, and Arcata is still not the hall. Eel River Conservation Camp is CDCR — not this county jail. Staff who paste a Pelican Bay photograph onto Fifth Street, or treat Arcata as this county government, or file Eureka as the capital, or rewrite this county as Del Norte-with-a-rename, are on the wrong county.
How a redwood-coast public finds Fourth Street, Fifth Street, and Sixth Street
Board of Supervisors: 825 Fifth Street, Room 111, Eureka. Sheriff Main Station: 826 Fourth Street, Ground Floor, Eureka, CA 95501 — (707) 445-7251. Humboldt County Correctional Facility: 901 Fifth Street, Eureka, CA 95501 — (707) 441-5159. Superior Court: 825 Fifth Street; Clerk’s Office 421 I Street. Elections: 2426 Sixth Street, Eureka, CA 95501 — (707) 445-7481. Garberville Station: 715 Cedar Street, Suite B. McKinleyville Station: 1608 Pickett Road. Willow Creek Station: 80 Country Club Drive. Coroner: 3012 I Street. Confirm live at humboldtgov.org. A student who only knows a redwood postcard, or a Sacramento photograph as this county, or treats Arcata City Hall as the jail, or drives to Pelican Bay for a county booking, has not found this campus.
901 Fifth still jails. Eureka PD does not. Arcata PD does not. Pelican Bay is Del Norte CDCR.
Crime in unincorporated Humboldt — McKinleyville, Garberville, Willow Creek, Redway, and the remainder — is this Sheriff. Crime in Eureka is often Eureka Police. Crime in Arcata is often Arcata Police. Crime in Fortuna is often Fortuna Police. This Sheriff is not those municipal departments. Humboldt County Correctional Facility at 901 Fifth Street is this Sheriff’s house. Public listings: opened mid-1990s; capacity near 417. Official doors did not show a separate county Department of Corrections taking this house — do not invent a jailer split.
Pelican Bay State Prison is CDCR in Del Norte County at 5905 Lake Earl Drive, Crescent City — not this county, not this jail, not this Sheriff. Eel River Conservation Camp is CDCR. CHP is a state badge on US 101. Do not send a family looking for a county booking to Eureka PD, to Arcata PD, to Pelican Bay, or to Crescent City.
Care without inventing a redwood as this government
A peace order served in McKinleyville remainder. A court-ordered transport from 901 Fifth to 825 Fifth. Search and rescue in the redwoods and on the bay. Do not invent a church. Do not invent Pelican Bay as this oval. Do not invent Sacramento as this hall.
What Humboldt actually watches
Court calendar on Fifth Street. A wreck on US 101. Fog on Humboldt Bay. High water on the Eel and the Mad. A tsunami warning on this coast. Fire in the redwood timber. Coordination with Eureka PD, Arcata PD, Fortuna PD, CHP, NPS, and CAL FIRE without becoming those departments. Coordination with Del Norte’s Sheriff is mutual aid between two offices, not a merger. Pelican Bay is Del Norte CDCR. The redwood is geography. Neither is Eureka PD as this oval.
Eureka civic snapshot (verify official sources)
- State: California · County: Humboldt · Seat: Eureka · Capital of California: Sacramento
- Map: Eureka · Arcata · Fortuna · McKinleyville · Garberville · Willow Creek · US 101 · Highway 299 · Humboldt Bay
- Not Arcata / Fortuna as the county government · Not the capital · Not Eureka PD as this oval · Not Pelican Bay · Not Autauga-with-fog
- Board: five Supervisors at 825 Fifth Street, Room 111
- Sheriff clock: not 2026 · last regular 2022 · next regular 2028 presidential primary · six-year bridge from AB 759
- Jail: 901 Fifth Street, Eureka — this Sheriff still holds it · Pelican Bay is Del Norte CDCR
Orientation adapted from the California Constitution Article XI, Elections Code § 1300, Government Code §§ 24000, 24200, 25304, and 26600, Humboldt County official pages (humboldtgov.org), Humboldt Superior Court locations, CDCR’s Pelican Bay locator (Del Norte, not this county), and the Secretary of State for education. The Sheriff of record is whatever those sources say today. Confirm HQ versus court versus jail, Pelican Bay as Del Norte CDCR, and city PD versus this badge, on official pages before you travel.
What Eureka is not, as this county
- Not the capital of California. Sacramento is.
- Not Arcata. Not Fortuna. Not McKinleyville as the county government.
- Not Pelican Bay. Not CDCR as this government. Not Del Norte.
- Not Eureka Police as this oval. Not Arcata Police. Not Fortuna Police. Not CHP.
- Not Cal Poly Humboldt as this government.
- Not Autauga-with-fog. Not Del Norte-with-a-rename.
- Not the Governor (that desk is 2026 in Sacramento).
- Not a campaign flyer.