Deschutes comprises the Bend, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area[3] and media market.

The Shevlin-Hixon Lumber Company also operated within the Bend area processing Ponderosa pine trees.

However, this has shifted in recent years, due in large part to the rapid growth and urbanization within the city of Bend.

[20] Republicans would hold the seat for the remainder of the decade until 2020, when Democrat Jason Kropf was elected to the State House and re-elected in 2022.

In 2022, the 53rd District, including Redmond, elected Democrat Emerson Levy to the Oregon House.

Portions of Deschutes County also fall into the 55th, 59th and 60th House Districts, respectively held by Republicans E. Werner Reschke, Vikki Breese-Iverson and Mark Owens.

During the 1990s, Deschutes County experienced the most rapid growth of any county in Oregon, largely due to the year-round availability of recreational activities, and its location as the nearest population center to much of the central Cascade Range.

Deschutes County is the home of four destination resorts as defined by Oregon's Department of Land Conservation and Development.

Three of these resorts, Sunriver, Eagle Crest, and Pronghorn, are among the county's ten largest tax payers.

Most of the lava found in Deschutes County issued forth from Newberry Volcano located just south of Bend.

[25] Large volcanoes serve as a backdrop to the city of Bend in Deschutes County, ranging from the prominent Three Sisters, Mount Washington, Mount Bachelor, Broken Top, Newberry, Tumalo Mountain, Maiden Peak and others.

[26] On the eastern side of the county, it is mostly characterized by large buttes of much older volcanic origin.

Some of the prominent buttes include Horse Ridge, Pine Mountain, China Hat, and several others on the county border.

The most common are the pāhoehoe flows which have been partially buried by volcanic ash, tephra deposits, and dirt over tens to hundreds of thousands of years.