English Counties by Population and Area 2023

This article ranks the 48 English ceremonial counties by population and size. 

A ceremonial county is a geographical area that a Lord Lieutenant has been appointed to. Because of the changes in local government boundaries in England over many years, ceremonial counties are the closest approximation we have today to the old geographical counties of England. As a result, they do not necessarily match the boundaries of today’s metropolitan counties and non-metropolitan counties.

Where a county’s name is hyperlinked, you can click to read a more detailed article about that county. Population data is from the Office of National Statistics.

What is the largest County in England

North Yorkshire is the largest county in England by area. It covers 3,341 square miles or 8,654 km² in total. As well as being the biggest county North Yorkshire is the fourth biggest by population in England. Lincolnshire, Cumbria and Devon are the other three counties with an area of more than 2,500 square miles.

The largest county in the UK by population is Greater London, followed by the West Midlands, Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire.

The most densely populated county in the United Kingdom is also Greater London (14,690 people per sq m), followed by Bristol and the West Midlands. The least densely populated county is Northumberland, with just 170 people per square mile.

What is the smallest county in England?

Now this is more contentious. The smallest ceremonial county in England by area is the City of London, which covers just 1.12 square miles (2.90km²). As its name implies, the City of London is not just a county, but is also one of the smallest cities in England. Bristol (24 square miles) is the next smallest ceremonial county, followed by the Isle of Wight (150 square miles).

However, if we look at historical counties, which people are more familiar with, then Rutland (147 square miles) is the smallest county.

List of County Towns

Further reading: Check out our articles on the UK population and the population of England. Also our article about the population of the ceremonial county of Yorkshire.

We have also published an article with information about each county in Ireland.