Merced County, California
Merced County · Merced is the seat · Sacramento is the capital of California · Atwater is a city · Los Banos is a city · UC Merced is a campus · USP Atwater is BOP
Merced is the seat. Sacramento is the capital. Atwater and Los Banos are cities, not the hall.
Merced County, California, was created 19 April 1855 from Mariposa, and named for the Merced River — not for the university as a government. Merced is the county seat. Sacramento is the capital of California. Merced is not the capital. Atwater is not the seat. Los Banos is not the seat. Do not read this page as Autauga-with-canals. Do not read this page as Fresno-with-a-west-stamp. Prattville is Autauga. Fresno is Fresno. Neither is this oval.
Atwater is a city — not the hall. Los Banos is a city — not the hall. Livingston, Dos Palos, and Gustine are cities — not the hall. The City of Merced is a municipality — not the whole county government. Planada, Winton, Delhi, Santa Nella, El Nido, Le Grand, and Snelling are unincorporated communities — remainder, not a second seat. UC Merced is a campus — not this government. Stanislaus is north — Modesto is that hall. Madera is south — Madera is that hall. Mariposa is east — Mariposa is that hall.
This page is Side One for the place. The Sheriff’s job — San Joaquin remainder patrol and 700 W. 22nd plus Sandy Mush this badge still holds — is taught at Office of the Sheriff — Merced County.
Five Supervisors at 2222 M Street. They do not sit as the State Assembly.
Merced is a general law county with an appointed County Executive Officer. A five-member Board of Supervisors, elected by district, sits at the County Administration Building, 2222 M Street, 3rd Floor, Merced, CA 95340. They fund roads, the N Street courthouse campus, and the Sheriff’s budget. They do not hire the Sheriff. The people do. Merced City Council is a city body. The California Legislature sits in Sacramento. Atwater City Council is a city body. None of those is this Board.
Merced Superior Court lists the new courthouse at 2260 N Street (courtrooms 1–7), the old courthouse at 627 W. 21st Street (courtrooms 8–10), Traffic at 720 W. 20th Street, Juvenile at 2840 W. Sandy Mush Road, and the Robert M. Falasco Justice Center at 1159 G Street, Los Banos. Do not invent one Atwater photograph as the whole map. Confirm live at countyofmerced.com and merced.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. Merced 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 canals are water. Livingston is a city. Madera is a different county.
Highway 99, Interstate 5, Highway 152, and Highway 59 meet on this map. The Merced River and the irrigation canals are water, not an Atwater badge as this county. UC Merced is a campus. USP Atwater is BOP — federal. Castle Commerce Center is a former air base, not a second county. Staff who paste a campus photograph onto M Street, or treat Atwater as the seat, or file Merced as the capital, or rewrite this county as Autauga-with-canals, are on the wrong county.
How a valley public finds M Street, 22nd, N Street, and Sandy Mush
Board of Supervisors: 2222 M Street, 3rd Floor, Merced. Elections / Registrar of Voters: Administration campus — confirm live at countyofmerced.com. Sheriff Administration / Main Jail: 700 W. 22nd Street, Merced, CA 95340 — (209) 385-7444. JLCC: 2584 W. Sandy Mush Road — (209) 385-7575. Superior Court: 2260 N Street. Confirm live at countyofmerced.com/353/Sheriff and merced.courts.ca.gov. A student who only knows a campus photograph, or a Sacramento photograph as this county, or treats City Hall as the jail, has not found this campus.
700 West 22nd and JLCC still jail. USP Atwater is federal. UC Merced Police is a campus badge.
Crime in unincorporated Merced — Planada, Winton, Delhi, Santa Nella, El Nido, Le Grand, Snelling, and the remainder — is this Sheriff. Crime in Merced is often Merced Police. Crime in Atwater is often Atwater Police. Crime in Los Banos is often Los Banos Police. This Sheriff is not those municipal departments. Main Jail at 700 W. 22nd Street and JLCC at 2584 W. Sandy Mush Road are this Sheriff’s houses (Corrections Bureau). Official doors list both under the Sheriff — do not invent a jailer split that takes the oval. Main Jail replacement toward Sandy Mush has been underway — confirm the live door.
USP Atwater is not this Sheriff. UC Merced Police is a campus badge. CHP is a state badge. Do not send a family looking for a county booking to Merced PD, to a USP Atwater gate, or to a campus police desk.
Care without inventing Castle Air Force Base as this government
A peace order served in Planada remainder. A court-ordered transport from 700 W. 22nd to 2260 N Street without becoming Merced PD. Civil process the office actually posts. Do not invent a church. Do not invent a campus as this oval. Do not invent Sacramento as this hall.
What Merced actually watches
Court calendar on N Street and at Falasco in Los Banos. A wreck on Highway 99. Fog on I-5. High water on the Merced River. Dust on the west side. Coordination with Merced PD, Atwater PD, Los Banos PD, CHP, UCPD, and BOP without becoming those departments. Coordination with Stanislaus’s Sheriff or Madera’s Sheriff is mutual aid between two offices, not a merger. Almonds are agriculture. A campus is UC. Neither is Merced PD as this oval.
Merced civic snapshot (verify official sources)
- State: California · County: Merced · Seat: Merced · Capital of California: Sacramento
- Map: Merced · Atwater · Los Banos · Livingston · Planada remainder · Highway 99 · I-5
- Not UC Merced as this government · Not the capital · Not Atwater as the hall · Not Autauga-with-canals
- Board: five Supervisors at 2222 M Street
- Sheriff clock: not 2026 · last regular 2022 · next regular 2028 presidential primary · six-year bridge from AB 759
- Jail: 700 W. 22nd Street and 2584 W. Sandy Mush Road — this Sheriff still holds both · USP Atwater is BOP
Orientation adapted from the California Constitution Article XI, Elections Code § 1300, Government Code §§ 24000, 24200, 25304, and 26600, Merced County official pages (countyofmerced.com), Merced 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, USP Atwater as BOP, and city PD versus this badge, on official pages before you travel.
What Merced the city is not, as this county
- Not the capital of California. Sacramento is.
- Not Atwater as the hall. Not Los Banos as the hall. Not UC Merced as this government.
- Not Merced Police as this oval. Not Atwater Police. Not Los Banos Police. Not CHP. Not UCPD.
- Not USP Atwater. Not BOP as this jailer.
- Not Autauga-with-canals. Not Fresno-with-a-west-stamp.
- Not the Governor (that desk is 2026 in Sacramento).
- Not a campaign flyer.