Wakefield is 9 miles (14 km) south-east of Leeds and 28 miles (45 km) southwest of York on the eastern edge of the Pennines in the lower Calder Valley.
The city centre is sited on a low hill on the north bank of the  River Calder close to a crossing place where it is spanned by a 14th-century, nine-arched, stone bridge and a reinforced concrete bridge built in 1929–1930.
It is at the junction of major north-south routes to Sheffield, Leeds and Doncaster and west-east routes to Huddersfield, Dewsbury and Pontefract.

Wakefield is within the area of the Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire & Yorkshire coalfield and lies on the middle coal measures and sandstones laid down in the Carboniferous period.

Wakefield includes the former outlying villages of Alverthorpe, Thornes, Sandal Magna, Agbrigg, Lupset, Kettlethorpe and Flanshaw.
 In the 2011 Census, Newton Hill, Outwood, Stanley and Wrenthorpe were counted as parts of Wakefield, having been classified separately in the 2001 Census.
Wakefield is 9 miles (14 km) south-east of Leeds and 28 miles (45 km) southwest of York on the eastern edge of the Pennines in the lower Calder Valley. The city centre is sited on a low hill on the north bank of the  River Calder close to a crossing place where it is spanned by a 14th-century, nine-arched, stone bridge and a reinforced concrete bridge built in 1929–1930. It is at the junction of major north-south routes to Sheffield, Leeds and Doncaster and west-east routes to Huddersfield, Dewsbury and Pontefract.
Wakefield is within the area of the Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire & Yorkshire coalfield and lies on the middle coal measures and sandstones laid down in the Carboniferous period.
Wakefield includes the former outlying villages of Alverthorpe, Thornes, Sandal Magna, Agbrigg, Lupset, Kettlethorpe and Flanshaw.  In the 2011 Census, Newton Hill, Outwood, Stanley and Wrenthorpe were counted as parts of Wakefield, having been classified separately in the 2001 Census.
Wakefield