Dorset Council is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Dorset in England. It is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county of Dorset, which also includes Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. The council was created in 2019 when local government across Dorset was reorganised.

The council has been under Liberal Democrat majority control since the 2024 election. It is based at County Hall in Dorchester.

Prior to 2019, the non-metropolitan county of Dorset had a two-tier structure of local government, with Dorset County Council serving as the upper-tier authority, and the six district councils of Christchurch, East Dorset, North Dorset, Purbeck, West Dorset, and Weymouth and Portland serving as lower-tier authorities. The boroughs of Bournemouth and Poole had both been removed from the non-metropolitan county in 1997 to become unitary authorities, but remained part of the ceremonial county.

Following consultation on proposals described as 'Future Dorset', which concluded in 2018, local government across the whole ceremonial county of Dorset was reorganised with effect from 1 April 2019. The nine previous councils (Dorset County Council, the six lower-tier district councils and the two unitary authorities of Bournemouth and Poole) were all abolished. They were replaced by two unitary authorities: Dorset Council and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council.

The way the changes were implemented was to redefine the non-metropolitan county of Dorset to remove the borough of Christchurch, which was merged with Bournemouth and Poole to create Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. The redefined non-metropolitan county therefore covered the combined area of the former districts of East Dorset, North Dorset, Purbeck, West Dorset, and Weymouth and Portland. A non-metropolitan district of Dorset was created matching the new version of the non-metropolitan county. Dorset Council is legally the district council, and there is no separate county council; the district council also performs county council functions, making it a unitary authority.

A shadow authority was established in May 2018 to oversee the transition, comprising all elected councillors from the five districts in the new Dorset Council area, plus all councillors on Dorset County Council except the five who represented divisions in Christchurch. Rebecca Knox, the Conservative leader of Dorset County Council, was appointed leader of the shadow authority.

The new district and council formally came into being on 1 April 2019, at which point the old councils were abolished. The shadow authority continued to run the council until the inaugural election in May 2019.

As a unitary authority, the council provides both district-level and county-level services. The whole area is divided into civil parishes, which form an additional tier of local government.