Lying on the river of the same name, the settlement was founded as the village of Chibyu in 1929, but in 1939 it was renamed Ukhta.

[citation needed] It was granted town status in 1943 when it was linked to the Pechora Railway.

Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with four urban-type settlements (Borovoy, Vodny, Shudayag, and Yarega) and thirteen rural localities, incorporated as the town of republic significance of Ukhta—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.

Ukhta has a continental subarctic climate[10] (Dfc) with long, very cold winters and short, warm summers.

Compared with areas at a similar latitude in Siberia, winters are less extreme, but still much longer than summer and bitterly cold by European standards.