The district has a land area of 1,253.85 square kilometres (484.11 sq mi).

The results were 86.9% European (Pākehā); 15.4% Māori; 2.1% Pasifika; 4.0% Asian; 0.4% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA); and 3.4% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander".

[5] The European history of Gore started in 1855 with the arrival of Scottish settlers.

[3] After the town site was surveyed, the provincial superintendent, James Alexander Robertson Menzies, named the site for his friend, the Governor of New Zealand, Thomas Gore Browne.

[3] The district council is headed by a mayor who is elected at large and complemented by eleven councillors from various wards.

[13] The current mayor, Ben Bell, was elected in the 2022 New Zealand local elections as Gore's youngest mayor at the age of 23 years, defeating the incumbent Tracy Hicks.