Recent decades have seen the decline of the Carey Gully township, with the closure of the general store which also sold petrol.

Still in operation are the Country Fire Service station, the Carey Gully Quarry and a small scale factory building on Deviation Road, housing a boatbuilding business and a traditional carpenter among others.

The road was an ideal location for the township in the past as it was situated on a largely dry, flat area (compared to the steep hills surrounding) and was also a main thoroughfare to the towns of Forest Range and Lenswood via Boundary Drive.

Agriculture is the main industry with crops of strawberries, apples, cherries and wine grapes being grown.

Although much of the land is devoted to agriculture, as with many towns in the Adelaide Hills, Carey Gully has retained a large portion of its natural bushland which boasts many species of threatened and endangered flora and fauna[citation needed], Wotton's Scrub and White's Scrub (part of the Kenneth Stirling Conservation Park) being excellent examples.