In the state of New South Wales, Australia, there are many areas which are commonly known by regional names. Regions are areas that share similar characteristics. These characteristics may be natural such as the Murray River, the coastline, or the Snowy Mountains. Alternatively, the characteristics may be cultural, such as a viticulture land use. New South Wales is divided by numerous regional boundaries, based on different characteristics. In many cases boundaries defined by different agencies are coterminous.

In New South Wales on the third tier of elected government after the federal and state governments are the local government authorities, which are responsible for the local government areas. The types of LGAs in New South Wales are cities, municipalities, shires and regions.

New South Wales has more than 150 local government areas^[1] which have an elected council and carry out various functions delegated to them by the Government of New South Wales.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has moved towards a new Geographical Classification called the Australian Statistical Geography Standard.^[2] Geography is now divided into Statistical Area Level 1, 2, 3, and 4. Statistical Area Level 4 is the highest (regions of a State) and Statistical Area Level 1 being the lower (Mesh blocks are more refined but not readily available apart from the Census of Population and Housing).

For older statistics, such as the 2006 Census of Population and Housing, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has multiple regional structures for which it analyses and reports data. These regional structures derive from the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (AGSC). The AGSC defines at the very smallest level, the Census Collection District (CCD). These CCD's aggregate to form the Statistical Local Area (SLA), which is the common base unit for each of the larger regional structures.^[4] The boundaries of the SLA are designed to be typically coterminous with Local Government Areas unless the LGA does not fit entirely into a Statistical Subdivision (SSD), or is not of a comparative nature to other LGA's.^[4] Bureau of Statistics provides statistics for Local Government Areas, as well as three other statistical structures: Statistical Divisions, Statistical Regions, and Statistical Districts.

The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) is a biogeographic regionalisation of Australia; divided into 89 bioregions and 419 subregions. Each region is a land area made up of a group of interacting ecosystems that are repeated in similar form across the landscape. Regions and subregion cross state and territory boundaries. The bioregions that are located within all or part of New South Wales include:^[8]

• Australian Alps (part)
• Brigalow Belt South (part)
• Broken Hill Complex (part)
• Channel Country (part)
• Cobar Peneplain
• Darling Riverine Plains (part)
• Flinders Lofty Block (part)
• Mulga Lands (part)
• Murray Darling Depression (part)
• Nandewar (part)
• New England Tablelands
• NSW North Coast
• NSW South Western Slopes (part)
• Riverina (part)
• Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (part)
• South East Corner (part)
• South Eastern Highlands (part)
• South East Queensland (part)
• Southern Volcanic Plain (part)
• Sydney Basin (Cumberland Plain)

New South Wales is also informally divided into a smaller number of regions. These regions have no general administrative function or status. Many of them are only vaguely defined, or are defined in different ways for different purposes. For example, departments of the New South Wales government, such as the New South Wales Police Force, or the Ministry of Health, define regions of the State for their own internal administrative purposes. These regions may be defined in completely different ways, as shown by the maps in the references.

The original basis for descriptive regional names in New South Wales is based on the geography of the State.

The State can be divided into four components:

• the coastal regions fronting the Tasman Sea in the east of the State
• the highlands which form part of the Great Dividing Range
• the western (inland) slopes of the highlands, which form the main agricultural region of the State
• the arid western plains

These four components are then typically divided into north, central and southern components based upon their location relative to Sydney.

This two-way subdivision gives rise to the generic pattern of regions, and in some cases, subregions:

• Regions of Sydney
• Regional Organisations of Councils
• NSW Regional Organisations of Councils
• Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils