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 the military). There are many unincorporated communities and areas in the United States and Canada, while many countries do not use the concept of an unincorporated area.
By country Argentina In Argentina, the provinces of Chubut, Córdoba, Entre Ríos, Formosa, Neuquén, Río Negro, San Luis, Santa Cruz, Santiago del Estero, Tierra del Fuego, and Tucumán have areas that are outside any municipality or commune.
Australia
Unlike many other countries, Australia has only one level of local government immediately beneath state and territorial governments. A local government area (LGA) often contains several towns and even entire metropolitan areas. Thus, aside from very sparsely populated areas and a few other unique cases, almost all of Australia is part of an LGA. Unincorporated areas are often in remote locations, cover vast areas, or have very small populations.
Postal addresses in unincorporated areas, as in other parts of Australia, normally use the suburb or locality names gazetted by the relevant state or territorial government. Thus, any ambiguity regarding addresses rarely exists in unincorporated areas.
Canada
In Canada, depending on the province, an unincorporated settlement is one that does not have a municipal council that governs solely over the settlement. It is usually, but not always, part of a larger municipal government. These range from small hamlets to large urbanized areas similar in size to a town or city.
In Alberta, unincorporated communities can be classified as Hamlet, Locality or townsite. A Hamlet is an unincorporated community that can be designated by the council of Municipal District or Specialized Municipality within their boundaries, or by the Minister of Municipal Affairs within the boundaries of an Improvement District.
For example, were they incorporated, the urban service areas of Fort McMurray in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo and Sherwood Park in Strathcona County would be the fifth- and sixth-largest cities in Alberta.
Unincorporated settlements with a population between 100 and 1,000 residents may have the status of designated place in Canadian census data.More information on Designated place . Statistics Canada. 2009.
In some provinces, large tracts of undeveloped wilderness or rural country are unorganized areas that fall directly under the provincial jurisdiction. Some unincorporated settlements in such unorganized areas may have some types of municipal services provided to them by a quasigovernmental agency such as a local services board in Ontario. In New Brunswick, where a significant population lives in a local service district, taxation and services may come directly from the province.
Czech Republic
The entire area of the Czech Republic is divided into municipalities; the only exceptions are for military training areas. These are parts of the regions and do not form self-governing municipalities, but are rather governed by military offices (újezdní úřad), which are subordinate to the Ministry of Defence.
Military areaRegionCivilian population(2022)Administrative centre(outside the military areas)Area (km2)LibaváOlomouc0Město Libavá235.48HradištěKarlovy Vary0Karlovy Vary280.73BoleticeSouth Bohemian0Kájov165.44BřezinaSouth Moravian0Vyškov149.62
Note: The Brdy Military Area was abandoned by the Army in 2015 and converted into a protected landscape area, with its area being incorporated either into existing municipalities or into newly established municipalities based on the existing settlements. The other four military training areas were reduced in size in 2015 too. The decisions on whether the settlements joined existing municipalities or formed new ones were made by plebiscites.
Denmark Ertholmene is a small group of islands that forms the easternmost part of Denmark. This small archipelago lies northeast of Bornholm and is the only part of metropolitan Denmark which is not part of a municipality. The islands have been under military jurisdiction since 1685 when Denmark turned Christiansø into a naval base in response to Sweden creating Karlskrona naval base a few years earlier. In 1926, the entire area was declared protected cultural heritage.Ertholmene Den Store Danske It has a population of 90 people as of 2024. Statistics Denmark groups it with Bornholm in Landsdel Bornholm.
Germany Since Germany has no administrative level comparable to the townships of other countries, the vast majority of the country, close to 99%, is organized in municipalities (, plural ), often consisting of multiple settlements that are not considered to be unincorporated. Because these settlements lack a council of their own, usually an or (village chairman / chairwoman) is appointed by the municipal council, except in the very smallest villages.
In 2000, the number of unincorporated areas in Germany, called (municipality-free areas) or singular , was 295 with a total area of and around 1.4% of its territory. However, these are mostly unpopulated areas such as forests, lakes and their surroundings, military training areas, and the like.
, Germany had 248 uninhabited unincorporated areas (of which 214 are located in Bavaria), not belonging to any municipality, consisting mostly of forested areas, lakes, and larger rivers. Also, three inhabited unincorporated areas exist, all of which served as military training areas: Osterheide and Lohheide in Lower Saxony, and Gutsbezirk Münsingen in Baden-Württemberg. They have fewer than 2,000 inhabitants in total. Gutsbezirk Münsingen has become uninhabited after losing its inhabited parts to adjacent municipalities on 1 January 2011.
Largest The following shows the largest unincorporated areas in Germany (including all inhabited areas, but excluding lakes) with an area of more than :
Regionalnumber Name District State Area(km2) Population(31 Dec. 2010)031530000504 Harz (Landkreis Goslar) Goslar Lower Saxony 371.76 –031560000501 Harz (Landkreis Göttingen) Göttingen Lower Saxony 267.35 –066330000200 Gutsbezirk Reinhardswald Kassel Hessen 182.58 –033580000501 Osterheide Heidekreis Lower Saxony 177.99 762031550000501 Solling Northeim Lower Saxony 177.49 –033510000501 Lohheide Celle Lower Saxony 91.32 716064350000200 Gutsbezirk Spessart Main-Kinzig-Kreis Hessen 89.30 –091800000451 Ettaler Forst Garmisch-Partenkirchen Bavaria 83.46 –084150000971 Gutsbezirk Münsingen Reutlingen Baden-Württemberg 64.68 160010535303105 Sachsenwald Herzogtum Lauenburg Schleswig-Holstein 58.49 –094720000468 Veldensteiner Forst Bayreuth Bavaria 55.60 –033540000502 Göhrde Lüchow-Dannenberg Lower Saxony 51.81 –033540000501 Gartow Lüchow-Dannenberg Lower Saxony 50.92 –066360000200 Gutsbezirk Kaufunger Wald Werra-Meißner-Kreis Hessen 50.32 –
In Bavaria, there are other contiguous unincorporated areas covering an area of more than which are however composed of several adjacent unincorporated areas, each one of which is under 50 km2 in area.
Israel In Israel, almost all land is subdivided into 393 municipalities which are further classified, normally by population, as city, local council, or regional council. All three types of municipality provide services, including zoning and planning.
However, a few unincorporated areas exist, whether because of omissions and ambiguities left in official maps dating from the British Mandate for Palestine, or due to deliberate policy of ensuring facilities of national importance, such as Ben Gurion Airport, Mikveh Israel boarding school, or the BAZAN Group oil refineries, would not have their operation affected by local considerations.
The largest unincorporated area in Israel is the so-called "Reservation area" (, ), a triangular region whose vertexes are Beersheba, Dimona and Arad, in which all Negev Bedouins were concentrated in the 1950s. As no municipal services are provided within unincorporated areas, this effectively makes all Bedouin settlements in the area unrecognized, with the sole exception of those that were included from 2003 within the Abu Basma Regional Council. On 5 November 2012 that council was split into two new councils, Neve Midbar Regional Council and al-Kasom Regional Council.Information for the citizens , Abu Basma Regional Council official site (Hebrew)
Netherlands The Netherlands has had regular periods with unincorporated land when newly reclaimed land polders fall dry. Unincorporated land has, since medieval times, been administered by an appointed officer with the name Landdrost or Drossaart. Also, Elten and Tudderen, both annexed from Germany after World War II, were governed by a Landdrost until they were ceded back to Germany in 1963.
The most recent period with unincorporated land started in 1967, when the dyke around Southern Flevoland was closed, but several years are required before the polder is genuinely accessible for cultivation, and construction of roads and homes can start, as in the first years, the soil is equivalent to quicksand. During the initial period of inhabitation, a special, government-appointed officer was installed, the landdrost. During the administrative office of a Landdrost, no municipal council forms.
In 1975, the first homes in what is now the city of Almere were built, and from 1976 to 1984, the area was governed by the Landdrost as the executive of the Openbaar Lichaam Zuidelijke IJsselmeerpolders (Southern IJsselmeerpolders Public Body). In 1984, the Landdrost became the first mayor of the new city Almere. Since that date, the Netherlands does not have any unincorporated land areas.
The Openbaar Lichaam remained, however, only governing the water body of the Markermeer. After the municipal division of the Wadden Sea (1985), the territorial waters in the North Sea (1991) and the IJsselmeer (1994), all water bodies are now also part of a municipality and no unincorporated areas exist in the Netherlands anymore. The Openbaar Lichaam Zuidelijke IJsselmeerpolders was dissolved in 1996.
New Zealand The New Zealand outlying islands are offshore island groups that are part of New Zealand. The Chatham Islands is the only island group among these that are populated and it has its own territorial authority. Most of the other island groups are not part of any administrative region or district, but are instead each designated as an Area Outside Territorial Authority.
Norway In Norway, the outlying islands of Bouvet Island, Jan Mayen, and Svalbard are outside of all of the country's counties and municipalities. They are ruled directly by national authorities without any local democracy. An exception is the Longyearbyen Community Council in Svalbard, which since 2004 in reality acts partly like a Norwegian municipality. Svalbard has a governor appointed by the government of Norway, ruling the area. Jan Mayen has no population, only radio and weather stations with staff, whose manager has the responsibility for the activities. Bouvet Island has only occasional visitors.
United States
In local government in the United States, the term "unincorporated area" usually refers to the part of a county that is outside of any general-purpose municipal government. An unincorporated community is one general term for a geographic area having a common social identity without municipal organization or official political designation (i.e., incorporation as a city or town). The two main types of unincorporated communities are: