Devon

Ceremonial County in England

Region: South West

§ This page provides an overview of an England's ceremonial county. Our website has 48 such county pages.

Overview ⁞ Devon is a large and diverse ceremonial county known for its two coastlines, Dartmoor and Exmoor National Parks, and a mix of historic towns and seaside resorts. Key urban centres include Exeter (the county town), Plymouth, and Torbay—the latter two functioning as separate unitary authorities. The rest of the county is governed by Devon County Council. Devon combines agricultural tradition with vibrant tourism, maritime trade, and growing digital sectors.

Is Devon a historic county? Yes—Devon is a historic county. Administratively, the ceremonial county comprises Devon County Council (with its districts) together with the unitary authorities of Plymouth and Torbay.

Devon has 10 Local Authority Districts. The chart below shows how this compares with other counties in England.

Number of local authority districts in Devon and other counties — Number of local authority districts in Devon, compared with other counties

This county page, Devon, is a sub-page this region page: South West. It zooms in to local authorities, administrative districts, and parliamentary constituencies in this county. We have this list page for easy browsing of all historic counties, ceremonial counties, and administrative counties: List of all counties in the UK.

Local Authorities in Devon

Devon County Council (County Council) 🔗 devon.gov.uk
East Devon District Council (District Council) 🔗 eastdevon.gov.uk
Exeter City Council (District Council) 🔗 exeter.gov.uk
Mid Devon District Council (District Council) 🔗 middevon.gov.uk
North Devon District Council (District Council) 🔗 northdevon.gov.uk
South Hams District Council (District Council) 🔗 southhams.gov.uk
Teignbridge District Council (District Council) 🔗 teignbridge.gov.uk
Torridge District Council (District Council) 🔗 torridge.gov.uk
West Devon District Council (District Council) 🔗 westdevon.gov.uk
Plymouth City Council (Unitary Authority) 🔗 plymouth.gov.uk
Torbay Council (Unitary Authority) 🔗 torbay.gov.uk

Devon, in England’s South West region, has a two-tier system of local government with Devon County Council providing county-wide services such as education, transport, and social care, alongside eight district councils responsible for local matters like planning, housing, and waste collection. These are East Devon, Exeter City, Mid Devon, North Devon, South Hams, Teignbridge, Torridge, and West Devon. In addition, the cities of Plymouth and Torbay operate as separate unitary authorities with their own councils, independent of the county council, each responsible for all local services in their areas. Together, these councils govern a county known for its historic city of Exeter, the naval heritage of Plymouth, the seaside resorts of Torbay, rugged coastlines along the Jurassic Coast and North Devon, and the wild uplands of Dartmoor and Exmoor, balancing strategic oversight with locally focused governance.

Districts in Devon

In the International Territorial Levels (ITLs) hierarchy, Devon is one of ITLs Level 2 area that contains the following 3 ITLs Level 3 areas:

(ITL 1) South West
(ITL 2) ⇒ Devon
(ITL 3) ⇒⇒ Plymouth ⁞ Torbay ⁞ Devon CC

Constituencies in Devon

A constituency is a specific geographical area that elects one Member of Parliament (MP) to represent them in the House of Commons. The United Kingdom is divided into 650 parliamentary constituencies, 13 of them are in Devon.

Local Authorities in Devon

Districts in Devon

Constituencies in Devon

Counties in South West