The Grasøyane Lighthouse is located on a small island in the northwestern part of Ulstein Municipality.

Then on 1 January 1917, the eastern half of the island of Hareidlandet was separated from Ulstein to form the new Hareid Municipality.

The official blazon is "Azure, a fess indented Or" (Norwegian: På blå grunn ein gull bjelke laga med ulvetannsnitt).

This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a fess (horizontal bar) with indented edges.

The fess has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used.

The largest is the town of Ulsteinvik and others include the villages of Haddal, Flø, Eiksund, Ringstad, Sundgot, Hasund, Varleite.

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Ulstein is made up of 25 representatives that are elected to four year terms.

The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Ulstein is known as a central community in the maritime cluster that has been created within the Sunnmøre region, Norway.