North Yorkshire is a ceremonial county in Northern England. It is bordered by County Durham to the north, the North Sea to the east, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the south-east, South Yorkshire to the south, West Yorkshire to the south-west, and Cumbria and Lancashire to the west.

The county is the largest in England by land area, at 8,654 km² (3,341 sq mi), and had a population of 1,172,860 in 2022. Middlesbrough and Redcar are located in the north-east of the county and form part of the Teesside conurbation, which extends into County Durham. The city of York is located in the south. The remainder of the county is rural, and its settlements include Harrogate in the south-west, the city of Ripon near the centre, and Scarborough on the coast in the east. For local government purposes the county comprises the unitary authority areas of North Yorkshire, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, York, and part of Stockton-on-Tees. The local authorities of York and North Yorkshire form a combined authority of the same name, and the local authorities of the other three areas are part of the Tees Valley Combined Authority. The county was historically part of Yorkshire.

The centre of the county contains a wide plain, called the Vale of Mowbray in the north and Vale of York in the south.