City of Sunderland

For the individual settlement, see Sunderland.

City of Sunderland
City and metropolitan borough
Sunderland
Sunderland White Lighthouse
Coat of arms
Motto(s):  Latin: Nil Desperandum Auspice Deo, lit. 'do not despair, have faith in God'
Sunderland shown within Tyne and Wear
Coordinates: 54.910°N 1.385°W / 54.910; -1.385
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Country	England
Region	North East
Ceremonial county	Tyne and Wear
City region	North East
Metropolitan borough	1 April 1974
City status	20 May 1992
Named after	Sunderland
Administrative HQ	City Hall, Sunderland
Government
• Type	Metropolitan borough
• Body	Sunderland City Council
• Executive	Leader and cabinet
• Control	Reform UK
• Leader	Michael Mordey (L)
• Mayor	Allison Chisnall
• MPs	3 MPs Julie Elliott (L) Sharon Hodgson (L) Bridget Phillipson (L)
Area
• Total	137 km2 (53 sq mi)
• Rank	172nd
Population  (2024)
• Total	288,606
• Rank	58th
• Density	2,100/km2 (5,400/sq mi)
Demonym	Mackem (colloq.)
Ethnicity (2021)
• Ethnic groups	List 94.6% White 3.0% Asian 1.0% Black 0.9% Mixed 0.5% other
Religion (2021)
• Religion	List 53.2% Christianity 39.5% no religion 1.8% Islam 0.3% Sikhism 0.2% Hinduism 0.2% Buddhism 0.0% Judaism 0.3% other 4.5% not stated
Time zone	UTC+0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
Postcode area	SR NE DH
Dialling code	0191
ISO 3166 code	GB-SND
GSS code	E08000024
Website	sunderland.gov.uk

City of Sunderland (/ˈsʌndərlənd/), is a metropolitan borough with city status in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It is named after Sunderland, and includes the towns of Hetton-le-Hole, Houghton-le-Spring and Washington. It also covers various surrounding villages and hamlets. The district also forms part of Wearside which includes Birtley in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead and Chester-le-Street in County Durham.

The district was formed in 1974 as part of the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972 and is an amalgamation of four former local government districts of County Durham. It was granted city status in 1992, the Ruby Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne. The borough had a population of 575,400 at the time of the 2011 census, with the majority of the population (274,286) residing in Sunderland, making it the largest settlement in the north east of England.