Lagunitas (''Laguna'',

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

for "Little lagoons") is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

Marin County Marin County ( ) is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is ac ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It is located southwest of

Novato Novato (Spanish for "Novatus") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, situated in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. At the 2020 census, Novato had a population of 53,225. History What is now Novato was origi ...

, at an elevation of 217 feet (66 m). Lagunitas is aggregated with Forest Knolls by the U.S. Census into the

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) Lagunitas-Forest Knolls. The first post office at Lagunitas opened in 1906. Lagunitas' ZIP Code is 94938.

Geography

Lagunitas is located in a mountainous part of Marin County, just north of Kent Lake and east of

Samuel P. Taylor State Park Samuel P. Taylor State Park is a state park located in Marin County, California, United States, which includes approximately of redwood forest and grassland. The park contains about of old-growth forest, some of which can be seen along the Pi ...

. Kent Lake serves as the primary tributary into the

Lagunitas Creek Lagunitas Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed December 27, 2017 northward-flowing stream in Marin County, California. It is critically important to the largest s ...

, which flows into the

Tomales Bay Tomales Bay is a long, narrow inlet of the Pacific Ocean in Marin County in northern California in the United States. Geography Tomales Bay is approximately long and averages nearly wide, with relatively shallow depths averaging 18 ft, eff ...

and from there the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

Demographics

Statistics describing Lagnuitas' demographics are grouped by the U.S. Census with the nearby unincorporated community of Forest Knolls. The two towns share a population of 1,924 people split between 801 families and 866 households.

Political affiliation

Lagunitas staunchly supports the Democratic Party in elections. The town is represented in the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

by two Democratic senators,

Laphonza Butler Laphonza Romanique Butler ( ; born May 11, 1979) is an American labor union official and former politician who served as an interim United States Senate, United States senator from California from 2023 to 2024. Butler began her career as a union ...

and

Alex Padilla Alejandro Padilla (born March 22, 1973) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from California, a seat he has held since 2021. A member of the Democrati ...

, and by Democratic representative

Jared Huffman Jared William Huffman (born February 18, 1964) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for California's 2nd congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Part ...

in the House. In the

2020 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala H ...

, Lagunitas voted for the Democratic Party's nominee

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

over Republican incumbent

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

by a margin of nearly 77 percentage points in Biden's favor. Lagunitas supported Biden more than they did Democratic nominee

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

in the

2016 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *7 January: Kiri ...

Education

The community is served by the Lagunitas School District and the

Tamalpais Union High School District The Tamalpais Union High School District or TUHSD provides high school education to students residing in ten elementary districts in central and southern Marin County, California and parts of West Marin. The headquarters are on the property of ...

. Lagunitas' two elementary schools, which are merged into the same property and share a single principal, include the only public

Montessori The Montessori method of education is a type of educational method that involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing ...

school in Marin County, and a middle school serving grades 6-8.

Transport

Roads

Lagunitas' main road is

Sir Francis Drake Boulevard Sir Francis Drake Boulevard is an approximately 43.8 mile east–west arterial road in Marin County, California, running from the trailhead for Point Reyes Lighthouse at the end of the Point Reyes Peninsula to Interstate 580 just west of th ...

, which itself runs from its intersection with

California State Route 1 State Route 1 (SR 1) is a major north–south state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either Route number, ...

just south of

Point Reyes Station Point Reyes Station (formerly Marin and Olema Station) is a small unincorporated town in western Marin County, California, United States. Point Reyes Station is located south-southeast of Tomales, at an elevation of . Point Reyes Station is loca ...

to the western terminus of Interstate 580 near San Rafael. The road serves as the only way in and out of Lagunitas by land.

Public transport

Lagunitas is served by

Marin Transit Marin Transit is a public bus agency serving Marin County, California, in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Marin Transit provides local and rural fixed-route bus services, paratransit services, and school bus services in Mari ...

, with a stop at Sir Francis Drake Blvd and Cintura Avenue on bus route 68 connecting Lagunitas between

Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...

and the San Rafael Transit Center, the latter of which provides direct links to other Marin Transit routes as well as

Golden Gate Transit Golden Gate Transit (GGT) is a public transportation system serving the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in California, United States. It primarily serves Marin County, Sonoma County, and San Francisco, and also provides limited ser ...

and

Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) is a commuter rail service and bicycle-pedestrian pathway project in Sonoma and Marin counties of the U.S. state of California. When completed, the entire system will serve a corridor between Clover ...

(SMART), themselves linking Lagunitas to other Bay Area transit services as well as providing transit access to Bay Area airports.

Air transport

Lagunitas itself has no airports, though the community is approximately equidistant between

San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport is the primary international airport for the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. Owned and operated by the City and County of San Francisco, the airport has a San Francisco mailing ...

(SFO),

Oakland International Airport Oakland International Airport is an international airport in Oakland, California, United States. The airport is located south of downtown Oakland and east of San Francisco, serving the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. The airport is ...

(OAK), and

Sonoma County Airport Sonoma may refer to: * ''Sonoma'' (beetle), a genus of beetles * Sonoma County, California, a county in northern California in the United States ** Sonoma, California, the city for which the county is named ** Sonoma Valley, the region in Sonoma ...

(STS). SFO has the most international flights of the three airports and can be accessed by a drive on

U.S. Route 101 U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a major north–south highway that traverses the states of California, Oregon, and Washington on the West Coast of the United States. It is part of the United States Numbered Highway Syst ...

, itself connected to Sir Francis Drake Blvd near San Rafael, though both U.S. 101 and SMART also directly link to STS.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in California Unincorporated communities in Marin County, California