Hutt County was one of the former counties of New Zealand. It occupied the south-western corner of the North Island, extending south from the Waikanae River and lying to the west of the summits of the Rimutaka Ranges. The county's name arises from the fact that a large amount of its land area lies in the Hutt River catchment. Small coastal communities on the Kapiti Coast were established early on, though major development around Paraparaumu and Waikanae was not significant until the 1970s and 1980s after land closer to Wellington had been developed.