Something like 5 million Californians live in urbanized unincorporated areas. That's more than the population of 6 states - Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, North and South Dakota and Delaware - COMBINED. Those 6 states have seats in Congress, state Legislatures, Governors, and their own courts systems, as well as subordinate counties and cities. The 5 million Californians don't even have a Mayor and City Council.

The 5 million Californians are treated differently than their counterparts who live in California's 483 cities. From a policy perspective, they are largely voiceless and invisible. California's policies that govern the formation of cities work against local control and have effectively blocked the establishment of new municipalities. No new cities were formed in California from 2011 to 2024, when the planned City of Mountain House was overwhelmingly approved by voters after a 30-year incubation period. The California (un)Incorporated coalition came about in order to bring some attention to the plight of our state's overlooked unincorporated communities and to seek changes in the way those 5 million disregarded people are treated.

The unambiguous benefit of cityhood is self-government—the foundation of our democracy. But to achieve self-government, a community must incorporate. With a de facto moratorium on new municipal incorporations, California works against local self-government. That is not how our democratic system is supposed to function. It is unfair to unincorporated communities. We want it to be put right.