The climate is continental, with extremely cold winters.

Hoeyang county is divided into 1 ŭp (town) and 23 ri (villages): The chief local industry is agriculture, although the terrain does not permit rice to be cultivated; instead, local crops include barley, wheat, oats, millet, maize, soybeans, and potatoes.

The maize-based yŏt candy from the district is widely known.

Local mines work to extract the deposits of tungsten, barite, molybdenum, graphite, gold, silver, and lead found in the county.

Hoeyang is served by roads, and also by the Kŭmgangsan Ch'ŏngnyŏn Line of the Korean State Railway.