County Durham is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is governed by Durham County Council. The district has an area of 2,226 square kilometres (859 sq mi), and contains 135 civil parishes. It forms part of the larger ceremonial county of Durham, together with boroughs of Darlington, Hartlepool, and the part of Stockton-on-Tees north of the River Tees.

Between 1974 and 1 April 2009, County Durham was governed as a two-tier non-metropolitan county, with a county council and district councils. The original eight districts were Chester-le-Street, Darlington, Derwentside, Durham (city), Easington, Sedgefield, Teesdale, and Wear Valley. In 1997 Darlington was removed from the non-metropolitan county and became a separate unitary authority. In 2009 the remaining districts were abolished and replaced by a single district covering the non-metropolitan county, with Durham County Council as the sole local authority.

The district has multiple hamlets and villages. Settlements with town status include Consett, Barnard Castle, Peterlee, Seaham, Bishop Auckland, Newton Aycliffe, Middleton-in-Teesdale, Shildon, Chester-le-Street, Crook, Stanley, Willington, Stanhope, Spennymoor, Ferryhill and Sedgefield while Durham is the only city in the district.

Neighbouring council areas

Local authority	In relation to the district
Northumberland	North
Gateshead	North east
City of Sunderland	North east
Hartlepool	South east
Stockton-on-Tees	South east
Darlington	South
North Yorkshire	South
Westmorland and Furness	West

Following the 2021 United Kingdom local elections, the council is now under control of a coalition of the Liberal Democrats, Conservative Party, Independents and North East Party.

The main industries where people in County Durham work are retail, health and social work, and manufacturing. The three largest industry groups for jobs based in the district are education, health, and manufacturing, while the three largest for businesses are construction, retail, and professional, scientific, and technical services.

Durham LEA has a comprehensive school system with 36 state secondary schools (not including sixth form colleges) and five independent schools (four in Durham and one in Barnard Castle). Easington district has the largest school population by year, and Teesdale has the smallest with two schools. Only one school in Easington and Derwentside districts have sixth forms, with about half the schools in the other districts having sixth forms.

Local TV coverage is provided by BBC North East and Cumbria and ITV Tyne Tees. Local radio stations include BBC Radio Newcastle, BBC Radio Tees, Capital North East, Heart North East, Smooth North East, Greatest Hits Radio North East, Nation Radio North East, TFM; and community radio stations Durham On Air, Bishop FM in Bishop Auckland, and Darlo Radio serving Darlington.

• Durham County Council information from GeoPunk