List of counties of England by area in 1871

This is a list of historic counties of England by area as at the 1871 census. Note that Monmouthshire was considered to be part of England at the time.

Rank	County	Area
1	Yorkshire	3,830,567 acres (15,501.75 km2)
2	Lincolnshire	1,775,457 acres (7,185.02 km2)
3	Devon	1,657,180 acres (6,706.4 km2)
4	Norfolk	1,354,301 acres (5,480.66 km2)
5	Northumberland	1,249,299 acres (5,055.73 km2)
6	Lancashire	1,219,221 acres (4,934.01 km2)
7	Hampshire	1,070,216 acres (4,331.01 km2)
8	Essex	1,060,549 acres (4,291.89 km2)
9	Somerset	1,047,220 acres (4,237.9 km2)
10	Kent	1,039,419 acres (4,206.38 km2)
11	Cumberland	1,001,273 acres (4,052.01 km2)
12	Suffolk	947,681 acres (3,835.13 km2)
13	Sussex	936,911 acres (3,791.54 km2)
14	Cornwall	873,600 acres (3,535 km2)
15	Wiltshire	865,092 acres (3,500.90 km2)
16	Shropshire	826,055 acres (3,342.93 km2)
17	Gloucestershire	805,102 acres (3,258.13 km2)
18	Staffordshire	728,468 acres (2,948.01 km2)
19	Cheshire	707,078 acres (2,861.44 km2)
20	Derbyshire	658,803 acres (2,666.08 km2)
21	Dorset	632,025 acres (2,557.71 km2)
22	Northamptonshire	630,358 acres (2,550.97 km2)
23	Durham	622,476 acres (2,519.07 km2)
24	Warwickshire	563,946 acres (2,282.21 km2)
25	Herefordshire	534,823 acres (2,164.35 km2)
26	Cambridgeshire	525,152 acres (2,125.21 km2)
27	Nottinghamshire	525,076 acres (2,124.91 km2)
28	Leicestershire	514,164 acres (2,080.75 km2)
29	Westmorland	485,432 acres (1,964.47 km2)
30	Surrey	478,492 acres (1,936.39 km2)
31	Oxfordshire	472,717 acres (1,913.02 km2)
32	Worcestershire	472,165 acres (1,910.78 km2)
33	Buckinghamshire	466,932 acres (1,889.61 km2)
34	Berkshire	451,210 acres (1,826.0 km2)
35	Hertfordshire	391,141 acres (1,582.89 km2)
36	Monmouthshire	368,399 acres (1,490.86 km2)
37	Bedfordshire	295,582 acres (1,196.18 km2)
38	Huntingdonshire	229,544 acres (928.93 km2)
39	Middlesex	180,136 acres (728.98 km2)
40	Rutland	95,805 acres (387.71 km2)