This paper presents a preliminary overview of changes in the occupational structure of Northumberland between 1762 and 1871. It discusses the population trends in the county during the nineteenth century, and the sources available for studying its changing occupational structure from the mid–eighteenth to the late nineteenth centuries. Alterations in the distribution of adult men between the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy for the county, as well as the important towns of Newcastle upon Tyne and Tynemouth, will then be analysed and discussed. An examination of changes in two specific sectors, namely mining and textiles, will follow. It will conclude by offering some tentative conclusions concerning the changing structure of the county’s economy during the Industrial Revolution.