Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool 11 mi (18 km) to the northwest across the River Mersey. Runcorn is on the southern bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap.