england counties

England Counties 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

England Counties List 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ceremonial England Counties

Table of all 48 England counties in 2021, officially called “ceremonial England counties”, as defined in the 1997 Lieutenancies Act, which distinguishes them from local government administration areas. England’s counties are also known as “geographical England counties” because they include permanent natural boundaries and features. “England’s historic counties” evolved from tribal Britain into administrative areas during the Roman and Norman occupations.

  • ADDucation’s list of England counties list was compiled by A C, last updated 01 Oct 2021.

ADDucation Tips: Sort England counties by size 2021, population or rank by clicking the arrows in the relevant column heading. Reload page for original sort order. Resize your browser to full screen and/or zoom out to display as many columns as possible. Click the ➕ icon to reveal any hidden columns. Start typing in the Filter table box to find anything about all 48 counties in England.

England Counties 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England Regions County Population Pop. Rank Area (km2) Area (mi2) Area Rank Chapman Code[4]
Bedfordshire East 664,600 36th 1,235 477 41st BDF
Berkshire South East 905,800 24th 1,262 487 40th BRK
Bristol South West 463,405 43rd 110 42 47th –[5]
Buckinghamshire South East 803,400 30th 1,874 724 32nd BKM
Cambridgeshire East 847,200 28th 3,390 1,310 15th CAM
Cheshire North West 1,054,100 19th 2,343 905 25th CHS
City of London[3] London 7,700 48th 2.9 1.12 48th –[5]
Cornwall[2] South West 565,968 40th 3,546 1,375 12th CON
County Durham North East 862,600 26th 2,721 1,033 19th DUR
Cumbria North West 498,400 41st 6,767 2,613 3rd CMA
Derbyshire East Midlands 1,049,000 20th 2,625 1,014 21st DBY
Devon South West 1,185,500 11th 6,707 2,590 4th DEV
Dorset South West 770,700 31st 2,653 1,024 20th DOR
East Riding of Yorkshire Yorkshire and the Humber 598,700 37th 2,479 956 23rd ERY
East Sussex South East 840,400 29th 1,791 692 33rd SXE
Essex East 1,820,400 7th 3,670 1,420 11th ESS
Gloucestershire South West 907,200 23rd 3,150 1,220 16th GLS
Greater London[3] London 8,817,300 1st 1,569 606 37th –[5]
Greater Manchester[1] North West 2,798,800 3rd 1,276 493 39th GTM
Hampshire South East 1,837,800 5th 3,769 1,455 9th HAM
Herefordshire West Midlands 191,000 45th 2,180 840 26th HEF
Hertfordshire East 1,180,900 13th 1,643 634 36th HRT
Isle of Wight South East 141,000 46th 384 150 46th IOW
Kent South East 1,832,300 6th 3,738 1,443 10th KEN
Lancashire North West 1,490,500 8th 3,075 1,187 17th LAN
Leicestershire East Midlands 1,043,800 21st 2,156 832 28th LEI
Lincolnshire East Midlands 1,082,300 18th 6,975 2,693 2nd LIN
Merseyside[1] North West 1,416,800 9th 647 250 43rd MSY
Norfolk East 898,400 25th 5,380 2,080 5th NFK
North Yorkshire Yorkshire and the Humber 1,153,400 14th 8,654 3,341 1st NRY
Northamptonshire East Midlands 741,200 33rd 2,364 913 24th NTH
Northumberland North East 319,000 44th 5,013 1,936 6th NBL
Nottinghamshire East Midlands 1,147,100 15th 2,159 834 27th NTT
Oxfordshire South East 682,400 35th 2,605 1,006 22nd OXF
Rutland East Midlands 39,500 47th 382 147 45th RUT
Shropshire West Midlands 493,200 42nd 3,488 1,347 13th SAL
Somerset South West 956,700 22nd 4,170 1,610 7th SOM
South Yorkshire[1] Yorkshire and the Humber 1,393,400 10th 1,552 599 38th STS
Staffordshire West Midlands 1,126,200 17th 2,714 1,048 18th STS
Suffolk East 757,000 32nd 3,801 1,468 8th SFK
Surrey South East 1,185,300 12th 1,663 642 35th SRY
Tyne and Wear[1] North East 1,129,500 16th 540 210 44th TWR
Warwickshire West Midlands 564,600 39th 1,975 763 31st WAR
West Midlands[1] West Midlands 2,897,300 2nd 902 348 42nd WMD
West Sussex South East 852,400 27th 1,991 769 30th SXW
West Yorkshire[1] Yorkshire and the Humber 2,307,000 4th 2,029 783 29th WYK
Wiltshire South West 716,400 34th 3,485 1,346 14th WIL
Worcestershire West Midlands 588,400 38th 1,741 672 34th WOR
See also: England unitary authorities

Notes: [1]In 1974 six English metropolitan counties were created, which are also ceremonial English counties. [2]Cornwall includes the Isles of Scilly. [3]The City of London is an enclave within Greater London. [4]Chapman codes, created by Dr Colin R Chapman were used in genealogy to identify administrative divisions in the British Isles.  [5]No specific Chapman code available. The City of London and Greater London could both be included in the Chapman code for London, i.e. (LDN).

Frequently Asked Questions About England Counties 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Frequently Asked Questions About England Counties

What's the biggest county in the UK?

The biggest England county by area is North Yorkshire. Greater London is the largest England county by population, over 3 times larger than West Midlands, which is the next most populous county in England.

Is Cleveland still an English county?

Cleveland as a county and as a county council was abolished on 1 April 1996. Cleveland's districts became unitary authorities when Langbaurgh-on-Tees was renamed Redcar and Cleveland.

Is Teesside a county in England?

Teesside has never been a ceremonial county in England. Teesside was a county borough between 1968 and 1974 when it was abolished. Today, Teesside is an urban conurbation around the River Tees.

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10 responses to “England Counties 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿”

  1. James Shields says:
    July 22, 2021 at 12:26 pm

    Your Chapman code for the Isle of Man is wrong

    Reply
    • Joe Connor says:
      July 24, 2021 at 10:51 am

      Hi James, thanks for your comment, I’ve corrected the Isle of Wight to IOW (from IOM Isle of Man – which is not an English County so not included in this list).

      Reply
  2. Paula says:
    December 8, 2020 at 10:21 pm

    Where is Cleveland or Teesside. We are not part of Durham or Newcastle

    Reply
    • Joe Connor says:
      December 11, 2020 at 12:55 am

      Hi Paula, Cleveland is a former county borough and county council. The former Cleveland districts are now part of the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority area, within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire. I’ve updated the FAQ section with further details.

      Reply
  3. Paul Jones says:
    October 26, 2020 at 4:25 pm

    But what about Avon?

    Reply
    • Joe Connor says:
      October 28, 2020 at 10:29 am

      Hi Paul, Avon was formed in 1976 and disestablished in 1996. Avon was replaced by four English unitary authorities; the city of Bristol, and county of Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire and Bath and North East Somerset. Avon, Rutland and over a dozen former England counties have been disestablished since 1965.

      Reply
  4. Anni says:
    October 9, 2020 at 11:19 am

    Is there a list of counties by geographic size?

    Reply
    • Joe Connor says:
      October 10, 2020 at 2:36 pm

      Our England Counties list includes the size by area in square miles and square kilometers. What measure of size are you interested in?

      Reply
  5. Mavis says:
    July 20, 2020 at 8:21 pm

    I don’t see the county of Somerset in this list?

    Reply

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