Created in 2007, the ward elects four councillors using the single transferable vote electoral system and covers an area with a population of 16,793 people.

The ward was created following the Fourth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2007 Scottish local elections.

As a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, local elections in Scotland would use the single transferable vote electoral system from 2007 onwards so Ayr West was formed from an amalgamation of several previous first-past-the-post wards.

Despite its name, the ward centres on the southern portion of the town of Ayr which is situated on the Firth of Clyde coast in the northwest of the council area.

[2] Following the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2017 Scottish local elections, the ward's eastern boundary was amended west to run along the Glasgow South Western railway line.