The area around Abiko has been inhabited since Japanese Paleolithic times, and archaeologists have found stone tools dated from 30,000 years ago.

From the Taisho period to the early Showa period, Abiko was sometimes called "Kamakura in the north" as many prominent cultural figures such as Naoya Shiga, Saneatsu Mushanokoji, Soetsu Yanagi, and Bernard Leach had villas in the town, which became a center for the Shirakabaha literary coterie.

In 2003, a proposal to merge Abiko with neighboring city of Kashiwa and the town of Shōnan was defeated by a public referendum.

Abiko has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 24 members.

In terms of national politics, the city is part of Chiba 8th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Although agriculture still plays a significant role in the local economy, Abiko is largely a regional commercial center and from the 1970s developed into a commuter town for nearby Chiba and Tokyo.