Located on the Chaeryŏng River, the county is bordered to the west by Anak and Sinch'ŏn, to the south by Sinwŏn, and to the east by Ŭnp'a, Pongsan and Sariwŏn in North Hwanghae Province.

Chaeryŏng County was first founded by the kingdom of Koguryo, who called it Siksŏng (息城郡), and later Hanseong (KR: 한성, Hanja: 漢城). Hanseong was named one of the three capitals of Goguryeo, along with Pyongyang and Gungnae. After the fall of Goguryeo in 668, it became the southern center of the Goguryeo Revival Movements led by Goguryeo commander Geom Mojam. The Koryo dynasty, the successor state to Goguryeo, gave it its current name in 1217. In 1415, it was promoted to county level under the Yi. Chaeryŏng was briefly merged into the newly formed Hwanghae District in 1895 during an experimental redistricting, but was restored to its previous form in 1896. During Japanese rule, which lasted from 1910 to 1945, the county was called Sainei (載寧). The county's current form was settled in the 1952 redistricting changes.

Chaeryŏng county is served by the Ŭllyul Line of the Korean State Railway. There is also a highway which runs through Chaeryŏng-ŭp.

The county is divided into one town (ŭp), one worker's district (rodongjagu) and 24 villages (ri).^[2]

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• Geography of North Korea
• Administrative divisions of North Korea