San Anselmo is a town in Central Marin County, about 20 miles north of San Francisco. Neighboring towns include San Rafael to the east, Fairfax to the west, Ross to the south, and San Rafael to the north. The population is about 12,000.

Sunny San Anselmo is a very quiet, family-oriented town with a very cute and vibrant downtown shoping and dining district.

Most of the downtown antique stores, boutiques and restaurants are along the banks of San Anselmo Creek. Heavy rains caused the creek to flood in 1982, as well as recently on December 31, 2005. 1982 was the worst, with up to 5 feet of rapidly moving water traveling down the main street. 2005 was 2-3 feet. Both times, the town's residents and business owners showed great resilience and spirit by cleaning up, remodeling and pushing forward.

Sunset Magazine readers voted San Anselmo “Best in the West” for antiquing and the town is distinguished as the “Northern California Antique Capital”. Creek-side restaurants, cafes, galleries, antique shops, boutiques and a small winery contribute to downtown San Anselmo’s charming atmosphere. Self-guided walking tours of downtown area are available at Town Hall.

Some of San Anselmo’s many other attractions include the Robson-Harrington House and Park, the Carnegie Library and the American Legion Log Cabin. Annual events such as the Art and Design Festival, Antiques Fair and town-wide antique sale, draw visitors from the surrounding communities and the entire San Francisco Bay Area.

The Ross Valley School District has four elementary schools and one middle school. Sir Francis Drake High School, which is in the Tamalpais Union High School District, serves San Anselmo.

Among San Anselmo's notable citizens are filmmaker George Lucas; cartoonist Michael Jantze; author, former WW2 AAF POW, Mozart Kaufmann; and musician Matt Freeman.

San Anselmo was mostly pastoral until 1874 when the North Pacific Coast Railroad (NPC) added to its line a spur track from San Anselmo to San Rafael. In 1875, the railroad completed a line from Sausalito to Tomales and north to Cazadero via San Anselmo. For a few years, the town was referred to on railroad maps as Junction, but in 1883, the name San Anselmo came back into use.

From 1902 until the early 1940s, San Anselmo was part of Marin's comprehensive and highly effective Northwestern Pacific (in 1907, investors formed the NWP) Electric Train system and the oddly shaped Miracle Mile and Center Blvd "raised roadbed" was the location of the railroad right of way. Becoming unprofitable as a result of competition from the automobile and the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge, the railway was officially closed on March 1, 1941. The last of the major San Anselmo railroad station buildings was razed in 1963, according to the town's timeline. Interestingly, the 1913 electric train schedule shows a commute time from San Anselmo to the Sausalito Ferry the Ferry Building in San Francisco of a mere 58 minutes, including the 32 minute ferry transit.

San Anselmo incorporated in April 9, 1907. Its name came from the Punta de Quintin land grant, which marked this valley as the Canada del Anselmo (Valley of Anselm - an Indian who was buried in the area). San Anselmo was a silent film capital in the early 1900s. On March 12, 1974 San Anselmo officially became a town.