County Cork was divided into 10 local electoral areas (LEAs) to elect councillors for a five-year term of office on the electoral system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV).

Compared to the previous election in 2014, the total number of councillors is unchanged, but following the recommendation of the 2018 Boundary Committee, there were significant changes to the LEAs, taking account of the transfer of land to the city, a maximum of 7 seats per LEA in its terms of reference, and population shifts revealed by the 2016 census.

[2][3] Compared with the 2014 election, Fianna Fáil increased its seat number by 1 to 18 and also polled more votes than Fine Gael.

Both parties benefitted from the collapse of Sinn Féin who only returned with 2 seats, a loss of 8.

After a recount, Holly Cairns won a seat in Bantry–West Cork for the Social Democrats.