The chief streams are the Tongdaech'ŏn (동대천) and Sŏdaech'ŏn (서대천).

Hongwŏn county is divided into 1 ŭp (town), 4 rodongjagu (workers' districts) and 27 ri (villages): The chief local occupation is agriculture.

Local crops include rice, soybeans, millet, oats, and potatoes.

There is a small amount of mining, exploiting local deposits of gold, silver, limestone, fluorspar, and scaly graphite.

Hongwŏn Station is on the P'yŏngra line of the Korean State Railway.