Otorohanga District is located some 50 kilometres south of Hamilton. The area administered by the Council covers 1976 sq.km and extends from the Kawhia and Aotea Harbours on the west coast for a distance of 90km to the eastern extremity near Mangakino. Included within the District are the urban communities of Otorohanga, Kawhia and Aotea.

Geographically, the District comprises three distinct areas of approximately equal size. The eastern and western areas have predominantly more hills than the central area which is the southern limit of the Waikato Basin. Farming is the dominant industry with sheep and cattle farming in the hill country and intensive dairy farming in the central area. Horticulture and cropping are lesser but developing activities.

The original Otorohanga County was formed on 1 April 1922 and arose out of the amalgamation of the former Wharepapa and Mangaorongo Roads Board and part of the Waitomo County. The northern half of the former Kawhia County was amalgamated into the District on 1 April 1956.

On 1 November 1971, the County of Otorohanga and the Borough of Otorohanga were united to form a new County of Otorohanga. At the time of the union there was no provision for "District" Council status, which only became available in 1978 following an amendment to the Local Government Act 2002.

The change in designation from a County Council to a District Council took place on 1 April 1979 and was made primarily to give recognition to the fact that Council is a rural-urban council with the urban area an integral part of the organisation. The Council has, over the years, assumed the functions of all the Drainage Boards in the District.

In 1985 the Council also took over the function of the Otorohanga Pest Destruction Board. However, with local government reorganisation, this latter function became the responsibility of the Waikato Regional Council (Environment Waikato). As a consequence of these changes over the years, the Council believes that it is able to function as an effective and independently viable unit of local government with adequate staff and resources to administer a comprehensive range of services for its constituent ratepayers and residents.

Access is provided by a roading network totalling 901.5km in length. State Highways 3, 31 and 39 account for 94.5km of this and are maintained by Transfield under contract to Transit New Zealand at no cost to Council. The balance of 807km comprises 514km of sealed pavements of varying widths and 293km of metalled roads. Of these 28km of sealed roads are within the urban communities of Otorohanga and Kawhia as are 0.5km of the unsealed roads. Within the Council maintained roading network are 154 bridges totalling 1995m in length and including 28 stock access structures.

Since the Otorohanga County was first constituted, the prime aim of Council has been extension and improvement of the roading system as a means of encouraging land development and stimulating primary production. The Council Office is located in the Community of Otorohanga which is situated on the Main Trunk Railway and State Highway No.3.

The town has good shopping facilities, three modern primary schools and a College, good medical facilities and caters for a wide range of sporting and cultural activities. Otorohanga is centrally placed, being within easy driving distance of Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Taupo and New Plymouth.

The town has a population of 2720 and is an important focus for tourist activities in the North King Country area. Being 16 kilometres north-west of Waitomo, Otorohanga is the closest town to the world famous glowworm caves.

Kawhia, a small holiday resort on the west coast, is also within the District. It is located on the shores of the Kawhia Harbour some 57 kilometres west of Otorohanga via State Highway 31, and has a permanent population of 384 with this increasing to over 3000 at peak holiday periods.