This is a list of unitary authorities of England ordered by population .
Figures are mid-year estimates for 2022 from the Office for National Statistics .[ 1] [ 2]
The list does not include North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire unitary authorities, created in 2021, for which statistics are not yet available.
In July 2021 plans were announced to create unitary authorities in Cumbria , North Yorkshire and Somerset in 2023. The North Yorkshire authority will be the largest in England by population (618,054 in 2019) and by far the largest by area (8,053 km2 ).
Rank Authority Region Population Density(people/km2 ) Area (km2 ) 1 Cornwall South West 575,413 162 3,545 2 Buckinghamshire South East 560,409 358 1,565 3 County Durham North East 528,127 237 2,226 4 Wiltshire South West 515,885 158 3,255 5 Bristol South West 479,024 4,368 110 6 Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole South West 401,898 2,480 162 7 Cheshire East North West 406,527 349 1,166 8 Dorset South West 383,274 154 2,491 9 Leicester East Midlands 373,399 5,091 73 10 East Riding of Yorkshire Yorkshire and the Humber 346,309 144 2,404 11 Cheshire West and Chester North West 361,694 393 920 12 Nottingham East Midlands 328,513 4,403 75 13 Northumberland North East 324,362 65 5,020 14 Shropshire West Midlands 327,178 102 3,197 15 Brighton & Hove South East 277,965 3,356 83 16 Central Bedfordshire East 301,501 421 716 17 South Gloucestershire South West 294,765 593 497 18 Medway South East 282,702 1,459 194 19 Milton Keynes South East 292,180 947 309 20 Plymouth South West 266,862 3,342 80 21 Kingston upon Hull Yorkshire and the Humber 268,852 3,756 72 22 Derby East Midlands 263,490 3,377 78 23 Stoke-on-Trent West Midlands 259,965 2,782 93 24 Southampton South East 252,689 5,066 50 25 Swindon South West 235,657 1,024 230 26 Portsmouth South East 208,420 5,161 40 27 Luton East 226,973 5,236 43 28 North Somerset South West 219,145 586 374 29 Warrington North West 211,580 1,171 181 30 York Yorkshire and the Humber 204,551 752 272 31 Peterborough East 217,705 634 343 32 Stockton-on-Tees North East 199,966 976 205 33 Herefordshire West Midlands 188,719 87 2,180 34 Bath and North East Somerset South West 195,618 566 346 35 Southend-on-Sea East 180,915 4,341 42 36 Telford and Wrekin West Midlands 188,871 651 290 37 North Lincolnshire Yorkshire and the Humber 170,042 201 847 38 Thurrock East 176,877 1,080 164 39 Bedford East 187,466 393 476 40 Wokingham South East 180,967 1,011 179 41 Reading South East 174,820 4,327 40 42 North East Lincolnshire Yorkshire and the Humber 157,754 819 193 43 West Berkshire South East 162,215 230 704 44 Windsor and Maidenhead South East 154,738 787 197 45 Blackburn with Darwen North West 155,762 1,137 137 46 Slough South East 159,182 4,892 33 47 Isle of Wight South East 140,794 371 380 48 Middlesbrough North East 148,285 2,752 54 49 Blackpool North West 141,574 4,060 35 50 Redcar and Cleveland North East 137,175 560 245 51 Torbay South West 139,479 2,218 63 52 Halton North West 128,964 1,631 79 53 Bracknell Forest South East 126,881 1,160 109 54 Darlington North East 109,469 554 197 55 Hartlepool North East 93,861 1,002 94 56 Rutland East Midlands 41,151 108 382
