The district lies between 23° 60’ and 24° 39’ north latitude and 83° 22’ and 84° 00’ east longitude, and is bordered by river Sone on the north, Palamau district of Jharkhand state on the east, Surguja district of Chhattisgarh state on the south, and Sonebhadra district of Uttar Pradesh on the west.

Population: 1024151 (2001 census)
The district consists mostly forests and has only one town, Garhwa, which is also the district headquarters. Garhwa district is a part of Palamau Commissionery consisting of fourteen blocks and two subdivisions, Garhwa and Nagar-Untari. At the time of creation there were eight blocks named as 1. Bhandaria, 2. Bhawanathpur, 3. Dhuraki, 4. Garhwa, 5. Majhiyaon, 6. Meral, 7. Nagar-Untari, and 8. Ranka. Later on six more blocks were created from the old one to provide efficient administration, named as 1. Chiniya, 2. Dandai, 3. Kandi, 4. Kharaundhi,5. Ramkanda, and 6. Ramuna. Currenty altogether there are fourteen blocks in Garhwa district. There are 156 Gram-Panchayat and 916 villages. It has two police sub-division named as Garhwa and Nagar-Untari with eight police stations as Bhandaria, Bhawnathpur, Dhurki, Garhwa, Majhiyaon, Meral, Nagar-Untari, and Ranka.