The Ceremonial counties of England are areas of England are defined by the government with reference to the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England. They are also often called geographic counties.^[1]

Northumberland Tyne and Wear County Durham † Cumbria † Lancashire † North Yorkshire † East Riding of Yorkshire † South Yorkshire West Yorkshire Greater Manchester Merseyside Cheshire † Derbyshire † Nottinghamshire † Lincolnshire † Rutland Leicestershire † Staffordshire † Shropshire † Herefordshire Worcestershire West Midlands Warwickshire Northamptonshire Cambridgeshire † Norfolk Suffolk Essex † Hertfordshire Bedfordshire † Buckinghamshire †    Oxfordshire Gloucestershire † Bristol Somerset † Wiltshire † Berkshire Greater London Kent † East Sussex † West Sussex Surrey Hampshire † Isle of Wight Dorset † Devon † Cornwall † Not shown: City of London

† ceremonial county covers larger area than the non-metropolitan county

The Lieutenancies Act 1997 defines the "ceremonial counties" in terms of local government areas created by the Local Government Act 1972 as amended. Schedule 1, paragraphs 2–5 defines them as:

• Bedfordshire, including Luton
• Berkshire
• Bristol
• Buckinghamshire, including Milton Keynes
• Cambridgeshire, including Peterborough
• Cheshire, including Halton and Warrington
• City of London
• Cornwall, including Isles of Scilly
• Cumbria
• Chester
• Derbyshire, including Derby
• Devon, including Plymouth and Torbay
• Dorset, including Bournemouth and Poole
• County Durham, including Darlington, Hartlepool, and Stockton-on-Tees north of the River Tees
• East Riding of Yorkshire, including Kingston-upon-Hull
• East Sussex, including Brighton and Hove
• Essex, including Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock
• Gloucestershire, including South Gloucestershire
• Greater London, excluding the City of London
• Greater Manchester
• Hampshire, including Southampton and Portsmouth
• Herefordshire
• Hertfordshire
• Isle of Wight
• Kent, including Medway
• Lancashire, including Blackburn with Darwen, and Blackpool
• Leicestershire, including Leicester
• Lincolnshire, including North Lincolnshire, and North East Lincolnshire
• Merseyside
• Norfolk
• North Yorkshire, including York, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees south of the River Tees
• Northamptonshire
• Northumberland
• Nottinghamshire, including Nottingham
• Oxfordshire
• Rutland
• Shropshire, including Telford and Wrekin
• Somerset, including Bath and North East Somerset and North Somerset
• South Yorkshire
• Staffordshire, including Stoke-on-Trent
• Suffolk
• Surrey
• Tyne and Wear
• Warwickshire
• West Midlands
• West Sussex
• West Yorkshire
• Wiltshire, including Swindon
• Worcestershire

1. Bedfordshire
2. Berkshire
3. Buckinghamshire
4. Cambridgeshire, including Isle of Ely
5. Cheshire
   • held jointly with Chester
6. Cornwall
7. Cumberland
8. Derbyshire
9. Devon
   • held jointly with Exeter
10. Dorset
    • held jointly with Poole
11. Durham
12. Essex
13. Gloucestershire
    • held jointly with Gloucester and Bristol
14. Herefordshire
15. Hertfordshire
16. Huntingdonshire
17. Kent
    • held jointly with Canterbury
18. Lancashire
19. Leicestershire
20. Lincolnshire
    • held jointly with Lincoln
21. City of London, having commissioners of Lieutenancy (not shown on map)
22. County of London
23. Middlesex
24. Norfolk
    • held jointly with Norwich
25. Northamptonshire, including the Soke of Peterborough
26. Northumberland
    • held jointly with Berwick-upon-Tweed and Newcastle upon Tyne
27. Nottinghamshire
    • held jointly with Nottingham
28. Oxfordshire
29. Rutland
30. Salop (Shropshire)
31. Somerset
32. Southamptonshire (Hampshire)
    • held jointly with Southampton
33. Staffordshire
    • held jointly with Lichfield
34. Suffolk
35. Sussex
36. Warwickshire
37. Westmorland
38. Wiltshire
39. Worcestershire
    • held jointly with Worcester
40. Yorkshire - had three Lieutenants, one for each of the three ridings
    • (a) East Riding, held jointly with Kingston upon Hull
    • (b) North Riding
    • (c) West Riding, held jointly with York

• Lieutenancies Act 1997