North Yorkshire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. It covers the majority of the North York Moors, the Vale of Mowbray and Vale of York, and the Yorkshire Dales. It does not include the north-east of the ceremonial county or the unitary authority area of York. The largest settlement is Harrogate, and the administrative centre is Northallerton. North Yorkshire is the largest local government area in England, with an area of 3,103 square miles (8,037 km).
The unitary authority area was formed on 1 April 2023 during a local government restructure. Prior to this, North Yorkshire was a non-metropolitan county containing seven non-metropolitan districts, and was governed by a county council and seven district councils. The creation of the unitary authority area was achieved by abolishing the seven districts and their councils, creating a new district covering the entire area of the non-metropolitan county, and giving North Yorkshire County Council the responsibilities of a district council in addition to its existing county council responsibilities. The county council chose to rename itself North Yorkshire Council as part of the restructure. The first elections to the reconstituted authority took place on 5 May 2022, and it took on district council responsibilities on 1 April 2023.