Cayuga County, located in the Finger Lakes region of New York, has a highly unorthodox shape. Most of the county is only about wide from its western border to its eastern edge. From north to south, however, it extends from Locke north to the Lake Ontario shoreline—a distance of about . NY 38 passes through much of the county, ending about south of the shoreline in Sterling. As a result, over half of NY 38's routing is located in the county, with the midpoint located near the city of Auburn.