The metropolitan counties of England are administrative units that cover large urban areas, each with several metropolitan districts. Their county councils were disbanded in 1986, for political rather than practical reasons, with most of the functions allocated to the individual districts. They still exist both as legal administrative counties, are used in government statistics, and are ceremonial counties also. Some functions such as emergency services and public transport are still operated on a metropolitan county wide basis.

The metropolitan counties are:

• Greater London
• Greater Manchester (Manchester, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan)
• Merseyside (Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, St. Helen's and Wirral)
• South Yorkshire (Sheffield, Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham)
• Tyne and Wear (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Gateshead, South Tyneside, North Tyneside, Sunderland)
• West Midlands (Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall, Wolverhampton)
• West Yorkshire (Leeds, Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Wakefield)

Notably, legislation still refers to these counties as existing. For example, The North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire (County Boundaries) Order 1991, [1], refers to the county of South Yorkshire in the present tense, and adjusts its bounds.

See also Counties of England, Districts of England, Historical Counties of England.