The first permanent settlers in present-day Hood River County filed a donation land claim in 1854.

By the latter part of the nineteenth century farmers of Japanese, Finnish, German, and French ethnicity had settled in the valley.

[4] The County lies in a transition zone in the Columbia River Gorge between the temperate rain forest of the Cascade range and dry desert of eastern Oregon.

Winter winds can blow from either the east or the west and can be of sufficient force to result in widespread damage.

[7] Sixty percent, or 209,385 acres (84,735 ha), of the county is federal land managed by the Mount Hood National Forest.

[10] Weyerhaeuser Company became a major private landowner in 2013 after purchasing Longview Timber LLC, including its forest holdings in Hood River County.

The Forestry Department manages the 31,000 acre County Forest for timber sale revenue and to develop and maintain recreation trails.

In fiscal year 2014 gross revenue from County timber sales was $3,851,646 while Forestry Department expenses where $1,049,648.

[27] The Northern Oregon Regional Corrections Facility (Norcor), a short-term jail, serves Hood River, Gilliam, Sherman, and Wasco counties.

Health Care and Social Assistance was the largest major NAICS industry sector in Hood River County in 2013, with 14 percent of earnings.

Earnings in the Health Care and Social Assistance sector grew at an average of over five percent per year during that period.

[30] Despite a relatively small share of total earnings, farming, forestry and tourism are all important economic drivers in Hood River County.

Fruit grown in the fertile valley is of such exceptional quality the county leads the world in Anjou pear production.

A 1997 census recorded 15,553 acres (62.94 km2) of commercial orchards growing pears, apples, cherries and peaches.

Windsurfing has affected the local economy in many ways: windsurfing-oriented businesses and upscale restaurants catering to visiting windsurfers have reinvigorated the downtown area, many people who first visited Hood River in search of wind and waves have settled in the area and become an integral part of the community, and the local economy has been infused with much needed tourist dollars.

In 2008 Mount Hood Railroad was acquired by Iowa Pacific Holdings, based in Chicago.

The company leases storage on its lines for excess freight cars, in addition to, or at times in place of, operating recreational rides.