unincorporated community

An unincorporated community is a named settlement in the United States that is not incorporated as a municipality with its own municipal government.

The settlement can have a recognized name and extent without a municipal corporation of its own. The absence of incorporation describes its present governmental status and does not establish whether it was incorporated in the past.

A census-designated place gives an unincorporated community a statistical boundary for reporting. That boundary does not itself create a municipality or confer municipal government.