North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county in England, covering 3,341 square miles (8,654 km2) between the Pennines and the North Sea. About 1.18 million people lived there in 2021, spread across two national parks, the Vale of York and the industrial Tees estuary.
Northallerton is the administrative centre and York is the largest settlement. Five authorities share the county: North Yorkshire Council, the City of York, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and the part of Stockton-on-Tees that lies south of the Tees.
| Country | England, United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Regions | Yorkshire and the Humber; North East England (Teesside) |
| Area | 3,341 sq mi (8,654 km2) |
| Population (2021) | About 1,180,000 (ONS estimates) |
| North Yorkshire Council area | 618,627 (2021 estimate) |
| City of York | 201,851 (2021 estimate) |
| Administrative centre | Northallerton |
| Largest settlement | York |
| National parks | Yorkshire Dales, North York Moors |
| Highest point | Whernside, 736 m |
| Postcode areas | YO, HG, DL, TS, part of BD |
Local government changed on 1 April 2023, when North Yorkshire County Council and its seven districts merged into a single unitary North Yorkshire Council. York, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees were already unitary authorities.
Towns and Villages in North Yorkshire
The GeoNames gazetteer records 1,009 named settlements in the North Yorkshire Council area and the City of York, more than any other English county. The list below covers the 170 towns and larger villages with a recorded population; the remainder are dale hamlets, moorland farms and single-street villages.
- Acaster Malbis
- Acklam Wold
- Allerston
- Alne
- Amotherby
- Ampleforth
- Askham Bryan
- Austwick
- Bagby
- Barkston Ash
- Barlby
- Barlow
- Bedale
- Bilbrough
- Bilsdale
- Bishop Monkton
- Bishopthorpe
- Boroughbridge
- Borrowby
- Brayton
- Brompton
- Burn
- Burniston
- Burton in Lonsdale
- Burton Leonard
- Burton Salmon
- Byram
- Camblesforth
- Catterick
- Cawood
- Church Fenton
- Cloughton
- Cononley
- Copmanthorpe
- Cropton
- Cross Hills
- Dalton
- Danby
- Darley
- Dishforth
- Easingwold
- East Ayton
- East Cowton
- Ebberston
- Elvington
- Embsay
- Escrick
- Fairburn
- Felixkirk
- Filey
- Flaxton
- Forcett
- Gargrave
- Glusburn
- Goathland
- Goldsborough
- Grassington
- Great Ayton
- Great Broughton
- Great Ouseburn
- Green Hammerton
- Grewelthorpe
- Gristhorpe
- Grosmont
- Hambleton
- Hampsthwaite
- Harrogate
- Hawes
- Hawsker
- Haxby
- Hellifield
- Helmsley
- Hemingbrough
- Hensall
- High Bentham
- Hinderwell
- Holtby
- Hovingham
- Hunmanby
- Hunton
- Husthwaite
- Ingleby Greenhow
- Ingleton
- Kellington
- Kirby Misperton
- Kirk Smeaton
- Kirkby Fleetham
- Kirkby Malzeard
- Kirkby Overblow
- Kirkbymoorside
- Knaresborough
- Lastingham
- Lealholm
- Leyburn
- Linton upon Ouse
- Long Preston
- Low Bradley
- Malton
- Manfield
- Masham
- Melsonby
- Mickleby
- Middleham
- Middleton Tyas
- Monk Fryston
- Murton
- Muston
- Nappa Scar
- Nawton
- Nether Poppleton
- Newsham
- North Cowton
- North Duffield
- Northallerton
- Norton
- Osmotherley
- Oswaldkirk
- Pannal
- Pateley Bridge
- Pickering
- Pickhill
- Preston-under-Scar
- Raskelf
- Reeth
- Reighton
- Riccall
- Richmond
- Rillington
- Ripon
- Robin Hood's Bay
- Rufforth
- Saxton
- Scarborough
- Scorton
- Scruton
- Selby
- Settle
- Settrington
- Sharow
- Sherburn in Elmet
- Sheriff Hutton
- Sinnington
- Skelton
- Skipton
- Sleights
- Slingsby
- Snainton
- South Milford
- Spofforth
- Stainburn
- Staithes
- Stockton on the Forest
- Stokesley
- Strensall
- Sutton on the Forest
- Swainby
- Tadcaster
- Terrington
- Thirsk
- Thornton Dale
- Thornton-in-Craven
- Ulleskelf
- Upper Poppleton
- Warthill
- Weaverthorpe
- West Tanfield
- Wheldrake
- Whitby
- Whixley
- York
The Teesside part of the ceremonial county is not included above. Its main settlements are Middlesbrough, Redcar, Guisborough, Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Marske-by-the-Sea, Eston, Loftus, Skelton, Brotton, Thornaby-on-Tees, Yarm and Ingleby Barwick.
Geography
Three landscapes divide the county. The Yorkshire Dales fill the west, limestone country cut by the Swale, Ure, Nidd and Wharfe, with Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-ghent rising above 690 metres. The North York Moors occupy the north-east, the largest continuous stretch of heather moorland in England and Wales, ending in cliffs at Whitby and Ravenscar.
Between them lies the Vale of York, flat glacial farmland carrying the Ouse, the East Coast Main Line and the A1(M). The Howardian Hills and Nidderdale, both National Landscapes, sit on the vale’s edges.
The coast runs about 45 miles from Saltburn to Filey, mostly high cliff broken by Whitby, Robin Hood’s Bay, Scarborough and Filey Bay. The Tees estuary in the far north is the county’s only heavily industrial ground.
Neighbours are County Durham to the north, East Riding of Yorkshire to the south-east, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the south, and Lancashire and Cumbria to the west.
Demographics
The 2011 census counted 601,206 in what is now the North Yorkshire Council area, 197,783 in York, 138,368 in Middlesbrough and 135,164 in Redcar and Cleveland. ONS estimates for mid-2021 put those at 618,627, 201,851, 143,943 and 136,605, giving a ceremonial total of roughly 1.18 million once the Stockton south bank is added.
York’s built-up area held 141,671 people at the 2021 census and Middlesbrough’s 148,219. Harrogate followed with 75,507 and Scarborough with about 61,700. Selby, Ripon, Knaresborough, Skipton, Northallerton and Whitby are the other main towns.
Outside Teesside and the York and Harrogate belt, this is one of the emptiest parts of England. Large parts of the Dales and the Moors fall below 20 people per square kilometre, and several dale parishes have fewer residents now than in 1851.
Economy and Local Life
Farming shapes most of the land. Hill sheep and beef work the Dales and the Moors, with Swaledale and Dalesbred flocks bred for the conditions, while the Vale of York carries arable and pigs. Wensleydale cheese is still made at Hawes.
Tourism is the largest rural employer. The two national parks together draw well over 20 million visitor days a year, and York, Whitby, Scarborough and Harrogate take the rest. Harrogate has run on spa water, conferences and the Great Yorkshire Show since the nineteenth century.
Heavy industry is concentrated on Teesside, where chemicals, steel processing and port operations continue around Wilton and Redcar under freeport and low-carbon investment schemes. Boulby, near Loftus, is the deepest mine in Britain and produces potash and polyhalite; a second polyhalite mine at Woodsmith near Whitby is under construction with a 23-mile tunnel to Teesside.
Drax power station near Selby, converted from coal to biomass, is one of the largest single generators in the country. Catterick Garrison is the largest British Army garrison in Europe, and RAF Fylingdales on the moors runs a ballistic missile early warning radar.
History
York began as Eboracum, headquarters of the Roman Ninth and Sixth legions and later capital of Britannia Inferior. Constantine was proclaimed emperor there in 306. The Vikings took the city in 866 and made it Jorvik, capital of a kingdom that lasted almost a century.
Monastic wealth followed the Norman conquest. Fountains, Rievaulx, Byland and Jervaulx abbeys ran vast sheep flocks across the Dales and Moors until the dissolution in the 1530s; Fountains is the largest monastic ruin in Britain.
James Cook was born at Marton in 1728 and served his apprenticeship at Whitby, where his Endeavour was built as a collier. Lead mining in Swaledale and Wensleydale, and ironstone mining in Cleveland, drove nineteenth-century growth; Middlesbrough went from a farm to a town of 90,000 in seventy years.
Scarborough and Whitby were shelled by German battlecruisers in December 1914, one of the first attacks on British civilians in the First World War. The modern county was created in 1974 and reorganised into a single unitary council in 2023.
Getting There
The A1(M) runs the length of the Vale of York past Boroughbridge and Catterick. The A19 serves Thirsk and Teesside, the A64 links Leeds to York and Scarborough, the A66 crosses the Pennines to Cumbria, and the A65 runs through Skipton and Settle.
York is a major East Coast Main Line stop, with London reached in under two hours and direct trains to Edinburgh, Newcastle and Birmingham. Northallerton and Thirsk are also on the line. The Settle to Carlisle railway crosses the western dales over the Ribblehead viaduct, and the Esk Valley line runs from Middlesbrough to Whitby.
The North Yorkshire Moors Railway runs steam trains from Pickering to Whitby through Goathland. Teesside International Airport sits just over the Durham boundary; Leeds Bradford and Newcastle are the other options.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the largest town in North Yorkshire?
York, whose built-up area held 141,671 people at the 2021 census. Middlesbrough, in the Teesside part of the ceremonial county, held 148,219.
Is North Yorkshire the biggest county in England?
Yes by area. At 3,341 square miles it is the largest ceremonial county, ahead of Lincolnshire.
How many towns and villages are there in North Yorkshire?
The GeoNames gazetteer lists 1,009 named settlements in the North Yorkshire Council and York areas alone, of which 170 have a recorded population.
Which councils cover North Yorkshire?
North Yorkshire Council, which replaced the county council and seven districts in April 2023, plus York, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and part of Stockton-on-Tees.
Which postcode areas cover North Yorkshire?
YO for York, Scarborough and the Moors, HG for Harrogate, DL for Northallerton, Richmond and Darlington’s hinterland, TS for Teesside, and BD23 and BD24 for Skipton and Settle.
Which national parks are in North Yorkshire?
Two: the Yorkshire Dales in the west and the North York Moors in the north-east.