The municipality covers an area of 5,191 square kilometres (2,004 sq mi) in the Garden Route and Little Karoo regions.

It includes the coastal plateau around the city of George, and extends northeast over the Outeniqua Mountains to include the eastern end of the Little Karoo as far as the Swartberg mountains and the boundary with the Eastern Cape province.

At the end of the apartheid era, the area that is today the George Municipality was divided between two Regional Services Councils (RSCs): the coastal area around George and Wilderness formed part of the South Cape RSC, while the interior area north of the Outeniqua Mountains formed part of the Klein Karoo RSC.

Thembalethu was governed by a town council established under the Black Local Authorities Act, 1982.

While the negotiations to end apartheid were taking place a process was established for local authorities to agree on voluntary mergers.

In July 1993 a further agreement incorporated the Herolds Bay Local Council into the Municipality of George.

The transitional councils were initially made up of members nominated by the various parties to the negotiations, until May 1996 when elections were held.

The South Cape and Klein Karoo DCs were replaced by the Eden District Municipality.

Twenty-seven councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in twenty-seven wards, while the remaining twenty-six are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received.