Franche-Comté (UK: , US: ; French: [fʁɑ̃ʃ kɔ̃te] ; Frainc-Comtou:
Fraintche-Comtè; Arpitan:
Franche-Comtât; also German:
Freigrafschaft; Spanish:
Franco Condado; all lit. 'Free County') is a cultural and historical region of northeastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of Doubs, Jura, Haute-Saône and the Territoire de
Belfort 
. In 2021, its population was 1,179,601.
From 1956 to 2015, the Franche-Comté was a French administrative region. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.
The region is named after the Franche Comté de Bourgogne (Free County of Burgundy), definitively separated from the region of Burgundy proper in the fifteenth century.