The district covers around 500 square kilometres (190 sq mi) of mostly agricultural land in the extremely flat Fens.

[4] The neighbouring districts are East Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Peterborough, South Holland and King's Lynn and West Norfolk.

The whole district is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.

[12] In the 2019 election, twelve councillors – all Conservative – were returned unopposed to Fenland District Council, which topped the Electoral Reform Society's list of 'rotten boroughs'.

The food industry is now well established, and related processing, storage, packaging and distribution has become more sophisticated and diverse.

The predominantly rural economy of the area also includes a strong industrial tradition, including brewing, brick making, can making, pet food production, printing and engineering, and many local residents commute outside the district to work or study.

[18] Fenland council gave £370,400 to its chief executive Tim Pilsbury when he took early retirement in 2010–11.

Fenland Poet Laureates:- 2012 Elaine Ewart; 2013 Leanne Moden, 2014 Poppy Kleiser; 2015 Jonathan Totman; 2016 Mary Livingstone; 2017 Kate Caoimhe Arthur; 2019 CJ Atkinson; 2021 Kim Allen; 2022 Qu Gao; 2024 Hannah Teasdale.