A Complete List of UK Counties | England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Island

England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland comprise the United Kingdom (UK). The local government for each country has subdivisions that are made up of several regions.

The subnational divisions of the UK are referred to as ‘Counties’ or historically known as ‘Shires’.

Counties are responsible for the administrative, geographical, and political functions of the government.

Its subdivisions are further categorized into Lieutenancy, Regional, Upper tier, Lower tier, and Parish.

With the incorporation of counties, it simplifies government control according to its political borders.

In this article, you will learn about the main counties of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

The article lists worth-noting data including population, the county town, area coverage, and many more. In summary, the topics of the article are as follows:

UK Counties Map
How Many Counties in the UK
Counties of England
Counties of Scotland
Counties of Wales
Counties of Northern Island
Frequently Asked Questions
Final Thoughts

Contents

1 UK Counties Map
2 How Many Counties in the UK
3 Counties of England
4 Counties of Scotland
- - 4.0.1 Table of Local Government Counties of Scotland
5 Counties of Wales
- - 5.0.1 Table of Unitary Counties of Wales
- 5.1 Historic Counties
6 Counties of Northern Ireland
- - 6.0.1 Table of Counties of Northern Ireland
7 Frequently Asked Questions
8 Final Thoughts

UK Counties Map

(England Admin Counties 1965-1974 Map by XrysD via Wikimedia Commons)

(Traditional Counties of Scotland Map via Wikimedia Commons)

(Wales Administration Map by XrysD via Wikimedia Commons)

(Northern Ireland Counties Map by Chumwa via Wikimedia Commons)

How Many Counties in the UK

The total number of counties in the UK depends on the type of county included.

In summary, England has a total of 48 ceremonial counties, 39 historic counties, and 83 metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties.

Scotland is composed of 33 local government counties, whereas Wales has 22 unitary county and county borough councils.

As for Northern Ireland, it comprises only six counties. If you were to only add the 48 ceremonial counties of England, 33 local government counties of Scotland, 22 unitary county and county borough councils of Wales, and six counties of Northern Island, the total number of UK counties is 109.

Counties of England

Ceremonial counties are also known as lieutenancy areas of England where Lords-lieutenants are selected under the Lieutenancies Act 1997.

As for Historic counties, these are counties in the past used by the seven kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England. It is also referred to as traditional or ancient counties.

Historic counties are used for several purposes, including law enforcement and local government units.

Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties serve as a local government outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly that is created by the Local Government Act 1972.

This is not to be confused with London Boroughs that form the administrative regions of Greater London.

Table of Ceremonial Counties of England

Ceremonial Counties
County	Population	Region	District
Bedfordshire	669,338	East	Bedford Central Bedfordshire Luton
Berkshire	911,403	South East	West Berkshire Reading Wokingham Bracknell Forest Windsor and Maidenhead Slough
Bristol	463,405	South West	Bristol
Buckinghamshire	808,666	South East	Buckinghamshire City of Milton Keynes
Cambridgeshire	852,523	East	City of Peterborough Fenland Huntingdonshire East Cambridgeshire South Cambridgeshire City of Cambridge
Cheshire	1,059,271	North West	Cheshire West and Chester Cheshire East Warrington Halton
City of London	8,706	London	City of London
Cornwall	568,210	South West	Cornwall Isles of Scilly
Cumbria	498,888	North West	City of Carlisle Allerdale Eden Copeland South Lakeland Barrow-in-Furness
Derbyshire	1,053,316	East Midlands	High Peak Derbyshire Dales South Derbyshire Erewash Amber Valley North East Derbyshire Chesterfield Bolsover City of Derby
Devon	1,194,166	South West	North Devon Torridge Mid Devon East Devon City of Exeter West Devon Teignbridge City of Plymouth South Hams Torbay
Dorset	772,268	South West	Dorset Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
Durham	866,846	North East	County Durham Hartlepool Darlington Stockton-on-Tees
East Riding of Yorkshire	600,259	Yorkshire and the Humber	East Riding of Yorkshire City of Kingston upon Hull
East Sussex	844,985	South East	City of Brighton and Hove Lewes Wealden Eastbourne Rother Hastings
Essex	1,832,752	East	Uttlesford Braintree Colchester Tendring Harlow Epping Forest City of Chelmsford Maldon Brentwood Basildon Rochford Castle Point City of Southend-on-Sea Thurrock
Gloucestershire	916,202	South West	Tewkesbury Forest of Dean City of Gloucester Cheltenham Stroud Cotswold South Gloucestershire
Greater London	8,899,375	London	City of London City of Westminster Kensington and Chelsea Hammersmith and Fulham Wandsworth Lambeth Southwark Tower Hamlets Hackney Islington Camden Brent Ealing Hounslow Richmond upon Thames Kingston upon Thames Merton Sutton Croydon Bromley Lewisham Greenwich Bexley Havering Barking and Dagenham Redbridge Newham Waltham Forest Haringey Enfield Barnet Harrow Hillingdon
Greater Manchester	2,812,569	North West	City of Manchester Stockport Tameside Oldham Rochdale Bury Bolton Wigan City of Salford Trafford
Hampshire	1,844,245	South East	Test Valley Basingstoke and Deane Hart Rushmoor City of Winchester East Hampshire New Forest City of Southampton Eastleigh Fareham Gosport City of Portsmouth Havant
Herefordshire	192,107	East	Herefordshire
Hertfordshire	1,184,365	West Midlands	North Hertfordshire Stevenage East Hertfordshire Dacorum City of St Albans Welwyn Hatfield Broxbourne Three Rivers Watford Hertsmere
Isle of Wight	141,538	South East	Isle of Wight
Kent	1,846,478	South East	Sevenoaks Dartford Gravesham Tonbridge and Malling Medway Maidstone Tunbridge Wells Swale Ashford City of Canterbury Folkestone and Hythe Thanet Dover
Lancashire	1,498,300	North West	City of Lancaster Wyre Blackpool Fylde City of Preston Ribble Valley South Ribble Hyndburn Burnley Pendle West Lancashire Chorley Blackburn with Darwen Rossendale
Leicestershire	1,053,486	East Midlands	North West Leicestershire Charnwood Melton Harborough Oadby and Wigston Blaby Hinckley and Bosworth City of Leicester
Lincolnshire	1,087,659	East Midlands Yorkshire and the Humber	City of Lincoln North Kesteven South Kesteven South Holland Boston East Lindsey West Lindsey North Lincolnshire North East Lincolnshire
Merseyside	1,423,065	North West	City of Liverpool Sefton Knowsley St Helens Wirral
Norfolk	903,680	East	City of Norwich South Norfolk Great Yarmouth Broadland North Norfolk King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Breckland
North Yorkshire	1,158,816	Yorkshire and the Humber North East	Selby Harrogate Craven Richmondshire Hambleton Ryedale Scarborough City of York Redcar and Cleveland Middlesbrough Stockton-on-Tees
Northamptonshire	747,622	East Midlands	West Northamptonshire North Northamptonshire
Northumberland	320,274	North East	Northumberland
Nottinghamshire	1,154,195	East Midlands	City of Nottingham Bassetlaw Mansfield Newark and Sherwood Ashfield Gedling Broxtowe Rushcliffe
Oxfordshire	687,524	South East	City of Oxford Cherwell South Oxfordshire Vale of White Horse West Oxfordshire
Rutland	39,697	East Midlands	Rutland
Shropshire	498,073	West Midlands	Shropshire Telford and Wrekin
Somerset	965,424	South West	South Somerset Somerset West and Taunton Sedgemoor Mendip Bath and North East Somerset North Somerset
South Yorkshire	1,402,918	Yorkshire and the Humber	City of Sheffield Rotherham Doncaster Barnsley
Staffordshire	1,131,052	West Midlands	City of Stoke-on-Trent Newcastle-under-Lyme Staffordshire Moorlands Stafford East Staffordshire South Staffordshire Cannock Chase Lichfield Tamworth
Suffolk	758,556	East	Ipswich East Suffolk Mid Suffolk Babergh West Suffolk
Surrey	1,189,934	South East	Spelthorne Runnymede Surrey Heath Woking Elmbridge Guildford Waverley Mole Valley Epsom and Ewell Reigate and Banstead Tandridge
Tyne and Wear	1,136,371	North East	Gateshead City of Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside South Tyneside City of Sunderland
Warwickshire	571,010	West Midlands	North Warwickshire Nuneaton and Bedworth Rugby Stratford-on-Avon Warwick
West Midlands	2,916,458	West Midlands	City of Wolverhampton Dudley Walsall Sandwell City of Birmingham Solihull City of Coventry
West Sussex	858,852	South East	Worthing Arun Chichester Horsham Crawley Mid Sussex Adur
West Yorkshire	2,320,214	Yorkshire and the Humber	City of Leeds City of Wakefield Kirklees Calderdale City of Bradford
Wiltshire	720,060	South West	Wiltshire Swindon
Worcestershire	592,057	West Midlands	Worcester Malvern Hills Wyre Forest Bromsgrove Redditch Wychavon

Table of Historic Counties of England

Historic Counties
County	County Name	County Town (Capital)
Bedfordshire	County of Bedford	Bedford
Berkshire	County of Berks	Reading
Buckinghamshire	County of Buckingham	Aylesbury
Cambridgeshire	County of Cambridge	Cambridge
Cheshire	County of Chester	Chester
Cornwall	–	Truro
Cumberland	–	Carlisle
Derbyshire	County of Derby	Matlock
Devon	Devonshire	Exeter
Dorset	Dorsetshire	Dorchester
County Durham	County of Durham	Durham
Essex	–	Chelmsford
Gloucestershire	County of Gloucester	Gloucester
Hampshire	County of Southampton, Southamptonshire	Southampton
Herefordshire	County of Hereford	Hereford
Hertfordshire	County of Hertford	Hertford
Huntingdonshire	County of Huntingdon	Huntingdon
Kent	–	Maidstone
Lancashire	County of Lancaster	Lancaster
Leicestershire	County of Leicester	Leicester
Lincolnshire	County of Lincoln	Lincoln
Middlesex	–	Brentford
Norfolk	–	Norwich
Northamptonshire	County of Northampton	Alnwick
Northumberland	–	Northampton
Nottinghamshire	County of Nottingham	Nottingham
Oxfordshire	County of Oxford	Oxford
Rutland	Rutlandshire	Oakham
Shropshire	County of Salop	Shrewsbury
Somerset	Somersetshire	Somerton
Staffordshire	County of Stafford	Stafford
Suffolk	–	Ipswich
Surrey	–	Guildford
Sussex	–	Chichester
Warwickshire	County of Warwick	Warwick
Westmorland	–	Appleby
Wiltshire	County of Wilts	Trowbridge
Worcestershire	County of Worcester	Worcester
Yorkshire	County of York	York

Table of Metropolitan and Non-metropolitan Counties of England

Metropolitan and Non-metropolitan Counties
Non-metropolitan county with county council	Non-metropolitan county with no county council	Non-metropolitan county that is also a unitary authority	Metropolitan county
Cambridgeshire Cumbria Derbyshire Devon East Sussex Essex Gloucestershire Hampshire Hertfordshire Kent Lancashire Leicestershire Lincolnshire Norfolk North Yorkshire Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Somerset Staffordshire Suffolk Surrey Warwickshire West Sussex Worcestershire	Berkshire	Bath and North East Somerset Bedford Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Brighton and Hove Bristol Buckinghamshire Central Bedfordshire Cheshire East Cheshire West and Chester Cornwall Darlington Derby Dorset Durham East Riding of Yorkshire Halton Hartlepool Herefordshire Isle of Wight Kingston upon Hull Leicester Luton Medway Middlesbrough Milton Keynes North East Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire North Northamptonshire North Somerset Northumberland Nottingham Peterborough Plymouth Portsmouth Redcar and Cleveland Rutland Shropshire South Gloucestershire Southampton Southend-on-Sea Stockton-on-Tees Stoke-on-Trent Swindon Telford and Wrekin Thurrock Torbay Warrington West Northamptonshire Wiltshire York	Greater Greater Manchester Merseyside South Yorkshire Tyne and Wear West Midlands

Counties of Scotland

The 33 local government counties of Scotland are also known as Scottish councils.

The counties are responsible for several functions such as regional planning, social work, and education.

To function, it gets funds from the Scottish Government and Council Taxes.

Table of Local Government Counties of Scotland

County	County Town	Area (sq km)
Aberdeenshire	Aberdeen	5,050
Angus	Forfar	2,182
Argyll	Inveraray	8,055
Ayrshire	Ayr	2,924
Banffshire	Banff	1,660
Berwickshire	Berwick (historical) Greenlaw (1596–1890) Duns (modern)	1,184
Buteshire	Rothesay	583
Caithness	Wick	1,601
Clackmannanshire	Alloa Clackmannan (historic)	159.0
Dumfriesshire	Dumfries	2,753
Dunbartonshire	Dumbarton	624
East Lothian	Haddington	679.2
Fife	Glenrothes	1,325
Inverness-shire	Inverness	10,906
Kincardineshire	Stonehaven	984
Kinross-shire	Kinross	189
Kirkcudbrightshire	Kirkcudbright	2,328
Lanarkshire	Lanark (historic) Hamilton (modern)	2,277
Midlothian	Dalkeith	353.7
Moray	Elgin	1,233
Nairnshire	Nairn	518
Orkney	The Mainland	990
Peeblesshire	Peebles	1,419
Perthshire	Perth	6,550
Renfrewshire	Renfrew	634
Ross and Cromarty	Dingwall	8,019
Roxburghshire	Jedburgh	1,725
Selkirkshire	Selkirk	692
Shetland	Lerwick	1,466
Stirlingshire	Stirling	1,158
Sutherland	Dornoch	5,252
West Lothian	Livingston	427.7
Wigtownshire	Wigtown	1,261

Counties of Wales

The 22 unitary counties of Wales handle the local government operations of towns and cities.

It is also referred to as the principal or sub-national areas controlling the lowest tier of local government.

The counties are broken down into 11 counties and 11 county boroughs.

Table of Unitary Counties of Wales

County	Population	Area (sq km)
Anglesey	68,900	714
Brecknockshire	43,376	1,899.11
Caernarfonshire	121,767	1,498.44
Cardiganshire	71,500	1,783
Carmarthenshire	187,900	2,395
Clwyd	491,100	2,910
Denbighshire	95,800	844
Dyfed	375,200	5765.75
Flintshire	60,012	748.28
Glamorgan	1,229,728	2,117.53
Gwent	560,500	1,553
Gwynedd	117,400	2,535
Merionethshire	35,315	1,559.22
Mid Glamorgan	423,200	781
Monmouthshire	503,917	1,403.19
Montgomeryshire	63,779	2,170
Pembrokeshire	123,400	1,590
Powys	133,200	5,200
Radnorshire	25,821	1,218.77
South Glamorgan	445,000	475
West Glamorgan	365,500	820
Wrexham	135,100	499

Historic Counties

Anglesey
Brecknockshire
Caernarfonshire
Cardiganshire
Carmarthenshire
Denbighshire
Flintshire
Glamorganshire
Merionethshire
Monmouthshire
Montgomeryshire
Pembrokeshire
Radnorshire

Counties of Northern Ireland

In the past, the six counties of Northern Ireland functioned for administrative purposes and served as postal counties by the Royal Mail.

Today, the six counties are mainly used for cultural and organizational purposes.

Moreover, it is used as lieutenancy areas with appointed Lord-Lieutenants.

Table of Counties of Northern Ireland

County	Population	County Town
Antrim	618,108	Antrim
Armagh	174,792	Armagh
Down	531,665	Downpatrick
Fermanagh	61,805	Enniskillen
Londonderry	247,132	Coleraine
Tyrone	177,986	Omagh

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the Biggest County in UK by Area?

The largest county in the UK by area is Yorkshire, with a total area of 2,941,247 acres or 11,903 sq km.

What Is the Biggest County in England by Population?

The Ceremonial county in England with the largest population is Greater London, with a population of 8,899,375.

What Is the Smallest County in England?

The City of London is the smallest Ceremonial county by area in England with a total area of 2.90 sq km.

Final Thoughts

What are your thoughts on UK counties? Share any additional information about the UK counties in the comments section below. We hope you find this guide helpful and don’t forget to share it with others.

If you are interested in learning more about the UK, check out our guides about the UK such as What Is A Zip Code In The UK, A Guide To The London Boroughs And Neighbourhoods, and Travel Using Public Transport in London.