List of counties of New Brunswick
This is a list of the counties in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, with population and county seats.
Before New Brunswick was partitioned from Nova Scotia, it consisted of Cumberland and Sunbury Counties. Counties were at the top of a three-layer local government system. Below each county were parishes, Some, but not all, parishes were then further subdivided into municipalities. The exception to this was the municipality of Saint John which was not in a parish but was a sub-division of Saint John County.
With the New Brunswick Equal Opportunity program in 1966, county councils were abolished. Counties continue to be used as an organizational unit, along with parishes, for registration of real-estate and its taxation. They figure prominently in residents' sense of place and continue as significant threads in the Province's cultural fabric. They still appear on most maps.
County Name | Population, 2016 | Population, 2011 | Population, % change | Shire town | Land area | Population density | Formation |
Albert County | 29,158 | 28,846 | 1.1 | Hopewell Cape | 1807.88 | 16.1 | Formed in 1845 from part of Westmorland County and a small part of Saint John County. |
Carleton County | 26,220 | 27,019 | -3 | Woodstock | 3312.72 | 7.9 | Formed in 1831 from part of York County. |
Charlotte County | 25,428 | 26,549 | -4.2 | St. Andrews | 3426.97 | 7.4 | One of the original 8 counties. |
Gloucester County | 78,444 | 79,943 | -1.9 | Bathurst | 4743.67 | 16.5 | Formed in 1826 from part of Northumberland County. |
Kent County | 30,475 | 30,833 | -1.2 | Richibucto | 4552.92 | 6.7 | Formed in 1826 from part of Northumberland County. |
Kings County | 68,941 | 69,665 | -1 | Hampton | 3484.22 | 19.8 | One of the original 8 counties. |
Madawaska County | 32,741 | 33,422 | -2 | Edmundston | 3461.89 | 9.5 | Formed in 1873 from part of Victoria County. |
Northumberland County | 44,952 | 46,204 | -2.7 | Newcastle, now part of Miramichi | 12868.78 | 3.5 | One of the original 8 counties. |
Queens County | 10,472 | 11,086 | -5.5 | Gagetown | 3686.05 | 2.8 | One of the original 8 counties. |
Restigouche County | 30,955 | 32,594 | -5 | Dalhousie | 8580 | 3.6 | Formed in 1837 from part of Gloucester County. |
Saint John County | 74,020 | 76,550 | -3.3 | Saint John | 1463.7 | 50.6 | One of the original 8 counties. |
Sunbury County | 27,644 | 27,143 | 1.8 | Burton | 2696.53 | 10.3 | One of the original 8 counties. |
Victoria County | 18,617 | 19,921 | -6.5 | Andover, now part of Perth-Andover | 5505.56 | 3.4 | Formed in 1844 from part of Carleton County. |
Westmorland County | 149,623 | 144,158 | 3.8 | Dorchester | 3666.15 | 40.8 | One of the original 8 counties. |
York County | 99,411 | 97,238 | 2.2 | Fredericton | 8131.77 | 12.2 | One of the original 8 counties. |