Cumberland is one of the 39 traditional counties of England. In 1974, the area also became part of the new administrative county of Cumbria, along with Westmorland and parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire.

The traditional county town is Carlisle, and the county borders Northumberland and County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south, and the Furness part of Lancashire to the south-west.

The county was administratively divided into five wards, rather than the hundred found in most English counties. The wards were Allerdale above Derwent, Allerdale below Derwent, Cumberland, Eskdale and Leath.

The name continues in use as a geographical and cultural term, and survives in Cumberland sausages and various organisations and companies, such as the local newspapers The Cumberland News, and The West Cumberland Times and Star, and the Cumberland Building Society.

In June 1994, after extensive consultation with the public, the Local Government Commission published Draft Recommendations for the complete restoration of Cumberland as an administrative county for administrative ceremonial purposes. The government has yet to heed their recommendation in this regard.