The borough also includes the town of Kidsgrove and several villages and surrounding rural areas lying generally to the west of Newcastle itself.

The neighbouring districts are Staffordshire Moorlands, Stoke-on-Trent, Stafford, Shropshire and Cheshire East.

The municipal borough was enlarged several times, notably in 1932 when it took in what had been the Wolstanton United Urban District, covering the parishes of Chesterton, Silverdale and Wolstanton, and at the same time also absorbed the parish of Clayton from Newcastle-under-Lyme Rural District.

Parts of the borough are also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.

The wards are:[23][24] The council is based at Castle House on Barracks Road in the centre of Newcastle.

In terms of religious affiliation, 78.5% identified themselves as Christian, 13.1% having no religion, 0.5% Muslim, 0.2% Hindu or other and 0.1% stating Jewish or Sikh.

In terms of television, the area is served by BBC West Midlands and ITV Central broadcasting from Birmingham.

[34] The parishes are: The following people, military units and organisations and groups have received the Freedom of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme.