During the Sengoku period it was mostly under control of the Utsunomiya clan, who were destroyed when the area was awarded to Kuroda Kambe under Tokugawa Ieyasu.

After the Meiji restoration, the villages of Shiida, Nishikakuta, Katsuragi, Yatsuta, Tsuiki, Kamijiroi, and Shimojoi were established on May 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system.

Chikujō has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 14 members.

In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Fukuoka 11th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Chikujō has a mainly rural economy based on rice cultivation and commercial fishing.