# List of counties of New Brunswick

The Canadian province of New Brunswick has 15 counties, originating in the British tradition of local courts for civil and judicial administration that were officiated by the colony's appointed magistrates.
Counties, parishes and shiretowns are delineated in the Territorial Division Act. While no longer administrative divisions, they continue to define regional communities and have many legacy functions and provincial applications. They figure prominently in residents' sense of place and continue as significant threads in the Province of New Brunswick's cultural fabric (i.e., most citizens always know which county they are in).
Counties are used as the basis of census divisions by Statistics Canada in the national census, while their parishes are the basis for census subdivisions.

## History

The push for responsible government would see the municipal system of elective local government replace the magistracy, and in 1877 it was made mandatory that the province's county courts of sessions would municipalize.
"Sweeping" reforms of the Robichaud premiership in 1966 ceased all county local government function, consequent to the government's New Brunswick Equal Opportunity program which brought about dissolution of county entities in favour of a ministerial upper tier, among other reforms local government related or otherwise.
Counties were not replaced with another form of regional local government. Instead, many small village municipalities were created, with the surrounding predominantly rural areas financing local services and facilities through local service districts until the reform of local governance in 2023.

### Origin

The partitioning of Nova Scotia at the close of the American Revolutionary War was discreetly attributed by the British to the distance between the St. John river communities and the administrative centre at Halifax. The arrival of American Loyalist refugees saw the population in the colony grow abruptly, with many directed to Sunbury county's Wolastoq/Saint John river.
Initially, when Nova Scotia's authorities established counties for the first time in 1759, the vast territory of former Acadia to the north of Kings County was erected as Cumberland, until in April 30, 1765, when the county was sectioned for the residents of the townships along the coastline and in the lower Saint John River valley. The new county was called Sunbury.
It would not be until 24 May 1770 that a boundary would be established between the two counties. Sunbury’s western boundary was described as starting at the head of the St. Croix River, following the north line to the Saint John River and then to the southern Canadian border. This description actually overlapped a part of Maine’s territory, as you would have needed to go far west, towards the area near the source of the Chaudière River. On the east the boundary with Cumberland ran north by the magnet from a point 20 miles up from Mispec. No further changes would be made until 1785, when the recently partitioned New Brunswick province's government established new counties.

### Creation

New Brunswick was created on June 18, 1784. The province was divided into eight counties by decree of Governor Carleton: Charlotte, Kings, Northumberland, Queens, Saint John, Sunbury, Westmorland and York. In January 1786, the first session of the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly was held in Saint John, at which the MLA’s passed An Act for the better ascertaining and confirming the Boundaries of Several Counties within this Province, and for subdividing them into Towns or Parishes. As the council worked on developing the original county lines, they desperately needed maps of the province, which, at the time, they seemingly lacked. As a result, they relied on two maps by Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres from 1780, the best candidates for a map of New Brunswick at the time. As the new boundaries were established, the former counties of Cumberland and Sunbury were disregarded, with the exception of the starting point of the boundary between Westmorland and Northumberland counties, which shared a resemblance to the old boundaries, though this might have been a coincidence.
The county lines were strategically drawn to align with the watersheds, a logical decision given that New Brunswick's settlements were developed along waterways. Additionally, the counties were able to be divided into three groups: the Bay of Fundy, the Saint John River and the North Shore.

## List

| County | Shire town | Established | Origin | Etymology | Population (2021) | Population (2016) | Change | Land area (km$^2$) | Population density (per km$^2$) |
| Albert County | Hopewell Cape (Now part of Fundy Albert) | 1845 | Erected from Westmorland County | Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria. | 30,749 | 29,158 | +5.5% | 1,806.23 | 17.0 |
| Carleton County | Woodstock | 1831 | Erected from York County | Thomas Carleton, the first Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick. | 26,360 | 26,178 | +0.7% | 3,309.06 | 8.0 |
| Charlotte County | Saint Andrews | 1785 | One of the original 8 counties. | Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III. | 26,015 | 25,428 | +2.3% | 3,418.24 | 7.6 |
| Gloucester County | Bathurst | 1826 | Erected from Northumberland County | Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester, fourth daughter of King George III. | 78,256 | 78,444 | −0.2% | 4,734.30 | 16.5 |
| Kent County | Richibucto (Now part of Beaurivage) | 1826 | Erected from Northumberland County | Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, father of Queen Victoria. | 32,169 | 30,475 | +5.6% | 4,550.38 | 7.1 |
| Kings County | Hampton | 1785 | One of the original 8 counties. | To express loyalty to The Crown. | 71,184 | 68,941 | +3.3% | 3,482.35 | 20.4 |
| Madawaska County | Edmundston | 1873 | Erected from Victoria County | The Madawaska River, derived from a Maliseet word meaning unknown. | 32,603 | 32,741 | −0.4% | 3,454.97 | 9.4 |
| Northumberland County | Newcastle (Now part of Miramichi) | 1785 | One of the original 8 counties. | The Northumberland Strait | 45,005 | 44,952 | +0.1% | 12,843.39 | 3.5 |
| Queens County | Gagetown (Now part of Arcadia) | 1785 | One of the original 8 counties. | To express loyalty to The Crown and after early settlers from Queens, Long Island, New York. | 10,998 | 10,472 | +5.0% | 3,681.05 | 3.0 |
| Restigouche County | Dalhousie (Now part of Heron Bay) | 1837 | Erected from Gloucester County | The Restigouche River, derived from the Mi'kmaq name meaning five-fingered river. | 30,700 | 30,955 | −0.8% | 8,566.82 | 3.6 |
| Saint John County | Saint John | 1785 | One of the original 8 counties. | The Saint John River. | 76,558 | 74,020 | +3.4% | 1,461.05 | 52.4 |
| Sunbury County | Burton | 1785 | One of the original 8 counties. | Viscount Sunbury, the courtesy title of George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax. | 27,864 | 27,644 | +0.8% | 2,692.97 | 10.3 |
| Victoria County | Andover (Now part of Southern Victoria | 1850 | Erected from Carleton County | Queen Victoria | 18,312 | 18,617 | −1.6% | 5,492.85 | 3.3 |
| Westmorland County | Dorchester (Now part of Tantramar) | 1785 | One of the original 8 counties. | The county of Westmorland in North West England. | 163,576 | 149,623 | +9.3% | 3,659.74 | 44.7 |
| York County | Fredericton | 1785 | One of the original 8 counties. | Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, second son of George III. | 105,261 | 99,453 | +5.8% | 8,095.10 | 13.0 |