Created in 2007, the ward elects four councillors using the single transferable vote electoral system and covers an area with a population of 18,503 people.

The ward was previously a Labour stronghold with the party holding half of the seats between 2007 and 2017.

The ward was created following the Fourth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2007 Scottish local elections.

As a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, local elections in Scotland would use the single transferable vote electoral system from 2007 onwards so Hamilton West and Earnock was formed from an amalgamation of several previous first-past-the-post wards.

[2] Following the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2017 Scottish local elections, the ward's boundaries were unchanged.