Leading population centers
Rank	City	Population	Barony	Cork (County Capital) Cobh
1	Cork	199,230	Cork
2	Ballincollig	17,368	Muskerry
3	Carrigaline	14,775	Kinalea
4	Cobh	12,347	Barrymore
5	Midleton	12,001	Barrymore
6	Mallow	11,605	Fermoy
7	Youghal	7,800	Imokilly
8	Bandon	6,640	Carbery East
9	Fermoy	6,489	Condons & Clangibbon
10	Passage West	5,790	Kinalea
10	Blarney& Tower	5,743	Muskerry
based on Irish Census 2006 Records

County Cork (Irish: Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and southernmost county in Ireland. It lies in the province of Munster and is named after the city of Cork (Irish: Corcaigh). Cork County Council is the local authority for the county. Its largest settlements are Cork City, Ballincollig and Carrigaline. In 2016, the county's population was 542,196, making it the second most populous county in Ireland.

There are two local authorities whose remit collectively encompasses the geographic area of the county and city of Cork. The county, excluding Cork city, is administered by Cork County Council, while the city is administered separately by Cork City Council. Both city and county are part of the South-West Region. For standardized European statistical purposes both Cork County Council and Cork City Council rank equally as first-level local administrative units of the NUTS 3 South-West Region. There are 34 such LAU 1 entities in the Republic of Ireland.