The council's main towns are Ti-Tree, Yuendumu, and Lajamanu.

The Region covers an area of 281,312 square kilometres (108,615 sq mi) and had a population of 4,208 in June 2018.

[2] The intention of the reform was to improve and expand the delivery of services to towns and communities across the Northern Territory by establishing eleven new Shires.

These were: Changes to the NT Local Government Legislation in 2013 changed the names of Shire to Regional Councils and thus the Central Desert Shire became the Central Desert Regional Council with effect from 1 January 2014.

[3] The Central Desert Regional Council is divided into four wards, which is governed by 12 councillors: Land within the Central Desert Region was divided in 2007 into bounded areas for the purpose of creating an address for a property.