The Council was formed on 12 May 2016 from the merger of parts of the Cities of Auburn, Parramatta (Woodville Ward), and Holroyd.

[4] The current mayor is Ola Hamed of the Australian Labor Party, elected on 16 October 2024.

The first was a merger of parts of Auburn, Holroyd and Parramatta to form a new council with an area of 72 square kilometres (28 sq mi) and support a population of approximately 219,000.

[14] The second proposed a merger of parts of Parramatta, Auburn, The Hills, Hornsby, and Holroyd to form a new council with an area of 82 square kilometres (32 sq mi) and support a population of approximately 215,725.

[4][18] After undertaking a significant amount of work to rationalise council services and staff, noting that "Auburn had issues with flagrant rezoning, and Holroyd was over-promising and underdelivering, living in a financial fantasy with many of its projects", May's term as Administrator came to an end in September 2017, with the election of the first council.

The motion was passed 7-7 with the casting vote of the mayor, and the name change to "Cumberland City Council" was implemented from January 2020.

[34] Located partially in the region, the Smithfield-Wetherill Park Industrial Estate is the largest industrial estate in the southern hemisphere and is the centre of manufacturing and distribution in western Sydney, with more than 1,000 manufacturing, wholesale, transport and service firms.

The state Government's Arts Minister John Graham threatened to cut funding for the Council's libraries due to this motion against same-sex books passing.

[66] On 15 May 2024, Cumberland City Council voted in favour of a motion to rescind the initial book ban.

On the night of 15 May, police and security guards were present as protesters clashed over the book ban outside the council chambers at Merrylands.