The Council covers an area of 5,834 square kilometres, has a distance of approximately 175 kilometres between its northern and southern boundaries, and being a Peninsula, has a varying width east to west averaging approximately 30 kilometres. The Council is unique in comparison to other Local Government Authorities in that it is bordered by sea on three sides and as such has 435 kilometres of coastline.

The Council shares its northern boundary with the District Council of the CopperCoast, District Council of Barunga West and the Wakefield Regional Council.

The Council’s population is estimated to be approximately 11,190, which is less than 1% of the total South Australian population. Of that base population, research by the Yorke Regional Development Board has shown that the Yorke Peninsula region has the oldest age profile of any region within Australia.

The area contains 12 larger towns and 33 smaller townships and holiday settlement zones, the latter being predominately located along the vast coastline. The 2006 Census of Population and Housing indicated that there were 4,866 habitable residences in the Council area.

The Yorke Peninsula is a major tourist destination within South Australia, with figures supplied by Tourism SA highlighting that there are 430,000 trips, or 1.446 million site night visits to the Peninsula as a whole each year. Figures provided by the National Parks and Wildlife Service estimate that 180,000 people visit the Innes National Park annually, requiring them to travel the entire length of the Council area to visit the Park, which is located in the south western corner of the Council area.

Council currently maintains 4 office locations and 4 works depots.

• The Maitland office is the Principal office that houses the Chief Executive Officer and is the base for the engineering (works) management.
• The Minlaton office operates predominately as the finance / information technology centre.
• The Yorketown office provides the planning and environmental base.
• The Warooka office offers an access point for the distribution of all Council services to the residents in that area.
• Works depots are situated at Maitland, Minlaton, Yorketown and Warooka.

Council employs approximately 150 employees

• maintaining an administration / management workforce of approximately 60 employees
• approximately 90 works related staff.

The Council area boasts both private and public schooling, from reception to year 12 as well as access to TAFE facilities, and is serviced by 3 hospitals (2 public, 1 private) and associated specialist and aged care providers. Ambulance services are provided throughout the area, with emergency access to the air ambulance. Most religious denominations are catered for on the Peninsula.

A wide range of sporting clubs provide a varied range of recreational pursuits, together with the opportunities available from the coastline surrounding the peninsula. Some of the sports catered for include football, tennis, basketball, netball, polo-crosse, cricket, bowls, 8-ball, snooker and darts. There is a yacht club at Port Vincent which caters for sailing on most levels and wind surfing. Other recreational pursuits available include Pony Club, fishing, boating and many art and craft groups. There are some walking trails established within the area, as well as National Trust / Museums and art / craft galleries.