The County of Kinross or Kinross-shire is a historic county and registration county in eastern Scotland, administered as part of Perth and Kinross since 1975. Surrounding its largest settlement and county town of Kinross, the county borders Perthshire to the north and Fife to the east, south and west.

Scotland's second smallest county, Kinross-shire is dominated by Loch Leven, a large inland loch, with two islands and an internationally important nature reserve. One of the islands contains a castle, where Mary, Queen of Scots was once held prisoner. Much of the land in Kinross-shire is fertile agricultural land and most of the inhabitants were originally employed in farming. The gently-rolling farmland surrounding Loch Leven gives way to steep, more rugged terrain at the outskirts of the county.

The Kinross-shire area was anciently part of the province of Fothriff. By the early thirteenth century, Fothriff had been joined to the earldom of Fife. Sometime between the reign of David I (reigned 1124–1153) and the mid-thirteenth century, this part of Scotland was divided into shires, being areas administered by a sheriff. By 1252 there was a sheriff of Kinross, initially with authority over just the two parishes of Kinross and Orwell.

Over time, Scotland's shires became more significant than the old provinces, with more administrative functions being given to the sheriffs. The larger earldom of Fife was therefore gradually eclipsed in importance by the smaller shire of Fife and the two other small shires within the earldom, being Kinross-shire and Clackmannanshire. In 1667 Commissioners of Supply were established for each shire, which would serve as the main administrative body for the area until the creation of county councils in 1890. Cleish, Portmoak and Tullibole were added to Kinross-shire in 1685. Following the Acts of Union in 1707, the English term "county" came to be used interchangeably with the older term "shire".

Elected county councils were established in 1890 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, taking most of the functions of the commissioners (which were eventually abolished in 1930). Kinross County Council held its first meeting on 22 May 1890 at the County Buildings in Kinross, the courthouse (built 1826) which also served as the meeting place for the commissioners.

The 1889 Act also led to a review of boundaries, with exclaves being transferred to a county they actually bordered, and parishes which straddled more than one county being adjusted such that each parish was entirely in a single county. There were several such changes affecting the boundaries of Kinross-shire.

Kinross-shire was the least populous of the Scottish counties at the 1921 census, with fewer than 8,000 people. Due to its low population, the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 combined the county councils of Kinross-shire and neighbouring Perthshire for most purposes in 1930. The two councils continued to be elected as separate bodies, but operated together as the "Perth and Kinross Joint County Council", serving the combined area of the two counties.

Kinross County Council did perform some roles alone after 1930, notably acting as the district council for Kinross-shire, which was considered too small to be divided into districts. The county council remained based at the County Buildings until its abolition in 1975.