Startforth Rural District was a rural district in the North Riding of the historic county of Yorkshire in the Pennines of northern England.
It constituted the part of the Teesdale Rural Sanitary District that was in the North Riding (the rest being in County Durham).
It comprised the area south of the River Tees between Cow Green Reservoir and Gainford, and north of the modern administrative border between County Durham and North Yorkshire.
The area is hilly and fairly sparsely populated.
Places within it included; Villages Dales Reservoirs and lakes Fells and moors Forests Rivers and becks Roads The Pennine Way also passes through the area.