Ch'angdo lies to the west of the Taebaek Mountains, in the Ryŏngsŏ region of Kangwŏn, but is nonetheless quite rugged.

The chief stream is the Pukhan River, which flows southward across the DMZ into South Korea.

Ch'angdo county is divided into 1 ŭp (town) and 16 ri (villages): The chief local industry is agriculture, including sericulture and livestock farming.

Ch'angdo is connected to the rest of North Korea by road, but not by rail.

Google Earth imagery from 2017 shows a newly constructed emergency highway landing strip for aircraft and is equipped with two aircraft parking revetments located to the north of Changdo city.