Mendocino County, California
Mendocino County · Ukiah is the seat · Sacramento is the capital of California · Fort Bragg is a city · Willits is a city · the town of Mendocino is unincorporated
Ukiah is the seat. Sacramento is the capital. Fort Bragg and Willits are cities, not the hall.
Mendocino County, California, was created 18 February 1850 as one of the original twenty-seven, named for Cape Mendocino (north, in Humboldt), not for the village of Mendocino as the whole county. Ukiah is the county seat. Sacramento is the capital of California. Ukiah is not the capital. Fort Bragg is not the seat. Willits is not the seat. Do not read this page as Autauga-with-fog. Do not read this page as Humboldt-with-a-south-stamp. Prattville is Autauga. Eureka is Humboldt. Neither is this oval.
Fort Bragg is a city — not the hall. Willits is a city — not the hall. Point Arena is a city — not the hall. The City of Ukiah is a municipality — not the whole county government. The town of Mendocino, Gualala, Laytonville, Covelo, Boonville, Anderson Valley, and Redwood Valley are unincorporated communities — remainder, not a second seat. Humboldt is north — Eureka is that hall. Sonoma is south — Santa Rosa is that hall. Lake is inland — Lakeport is that hall.
This page is Side One for the place. The Sheriff’s job — redwood-coast remainder patrol and 951 Low Gap this badge still holds in Ukiah — is taught at Office of the Sheriff — Mendocino County.
Five Supervisors at 501 Low Gap Road. They do not sit as the State Assembly.
Mendocino is a general law county. A five-member Board of Supervisors, elected by district, sits at the Ukiah Administration Center, 501 Low Gap Road, Room 1010, Ukiah, CA 95482. They fund roads, the North State courthouse, and the Sheriff’s budget. They do not hire the Sheriff. The people do. Ukiah City Council is a city body. The California Legislature sits in Sacramento. Fort Bragg City Council is a city body. None of those is this Board.
Mendocino Superior Court lists the Ukiah courthouse at 100 North State Street and the Ten Mile Branch at 700 South Franklin Street, Fort Bragg. Do not invent Fort Bragg as a second county. Confirm live at mendocinocounty.gov and mendocino.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. Mendocino 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.
The coast is water. Point Arena is a city. Humboldt is a different county.
U.S. 101, Highway 1, and Highway 20 meet on this map. The Pacific is water, not a Fort Bragg badge as this county. The Eel, the Navarro, and the Russian headwaters are rivers, not a second county. The Lost Coast is geography. Jackson Demonstration State Forest is state forestry, not this government. Staff who paste a Highway 1 photograph onto Low Gap Road, or treat Fort Bragg as the seat, or file Ukiah as the capital, or rewrite this county as Autauga-with-fog, are on the wrong county.
How a redwood public finds 501, 951, and North State
Board of Supervisors: 501 Low Gap Road, Room 1010, Ukiah. Elections / Assessor-Clerk-Recorder: Low Gap campus — confirm live at mendocinocounty.gov. Sheriff Administration / Jail: 951 Low Gap Road, Ukiah, CA 95482 — (707) 463-4411. Superior Court: 100 North State Street, Ukiah; Ten Mile Branch: 700 South Franklin Street, Fort Bragg. Fort Bragg Substation: 700 S. Franklin #110. Willits Substation: 470 E. Valley Street. Confirm live at mendocinosheriff.org and mendocino.courts.ca.gov. A student who only knows a Fort Bragg ocean photograph, or a Sacramento photograph as this county, or treats City Hall as the jail, has not found this campus.
951 Low Gap still jails. City PDs do not. The substations are not second seats.
Crime in unincorporated Mendocino — Covelo, Laytonville, Gualala, Anderson Valley, the town of Mendocino, and the remainder — is this Sheriff. Crime in Ukiah is often Ukiah Police. Crime in Fort Bragg is often Fort Bragg Police. Crime in Willits is often Willits Police. This Sheriff is not those municipal departments. Mendocino County Jail at 951 Low Gap Road is this Sheriff’s house. Official doors did not show a separate county Department of Corrections taking this house — do not invent a jailer split.
CDCR is not this Sheriff. CHP is a state badge. Do not send a family looking for a county booking to Fort Bragg PD, to Ukiah PD, or to Humboldt County Jail as this house.
Care without inventing Mendocino village as this government
A peace order served in Anderson Valley remainder. A court-ordered transport from 951 Low Gap to 100 North State without becoming Ukiah PD. Search and rescue the office actually posts on the coast and inland ridges. Do not invent a church. Do not invent Fort Bragg as this oval. Do not invent Sacramento as this hall.
What Mendocino actually watches
Court calendar on North State and at Ten Mile. A wreck on U.S. 101. Fog on Highway 1. High water on the Eel. Fire on the ridges. Coordination with Ukiah PD, Fort Bragg PD, Willits PD, CHP, and CAL FIRE without becoming those departments. Coordination with Humboldt’s Sheriff or Sonoma’s Sheriff is mutual aid between two offices, not a merger. Redwood is timber. The coast is geography. Neither is Fort Bragg PD as this oval.
Ukiah civic snapshot (verify official sources)
- State: California · County: Mendocino · Seat: Ukiah · Capital of California: Sacramento
- Map: Ukiah · Fort Bragg · Willits · Point Arena · Covelo remainder · U.S. 101 · Highway 1
- Not Fort Bragg as the hall · Not the capital · Not Ukiah PD as this oval · Not Autauga-with-fog
- Board: five Supervisors at 501 Low Gap Road
- Sheriff clock: not 2026 · last regular 2022 · next regular 2028 presidential primary · six-year bridge from AB 759
- Jail: 951 Low Gap Road, Ukiah — this Sheriff still holds it · Fort Bragg / Willits are substations
Orientation adapted from the California Constitution Article XI, Elections Code § 1300, Government Code §§ 24000, 24200, 25304, and 26600, Mendocino County official pages (mendocinocounty.gov, mendocinosheriff.org), Mendocino Superior Court locations, and the Secretary of State for education. The Sheriff of record is whatever those sources say today. Confirm HQ versus court versus jail, Fort Bragg as a substation, and city PD versus this badge, on official pages before you travel.
What Ukiah is not, as this county
- Not the capital of California. Sacramento is.
- Not Fort Bragg as the hall. Not Willits as the hall. Not the town of Mendocino as the county government.
- Not Ukiah Police as this oval. Not Fort Bragg Police. Not Willits Police. Not CHP.
- Not Humboldt as this county. Not Sonoma as this hall.
- Not Autauga-with-fog. Not a Highway 1 academy.
- Not the Governor (that desk is 2026 in Sacramento).
- Not a campaign flyer.