It is under the administration of Jieyang city with a jurisdiction area of 1,279 km2 (494 sq mi) and a total population of 674,829 according to the 2020 census.

Immigrants from Jiexi form a large overseas Chinese population who speak the Hepo dialect of Hakka (70%), mainly in Sarawak, Johor and Negeri Sembilan (Malaysia), and Bangka Belitung, Sumatra (Indonesia).

[1] In the late 18th and early 19th century, settlers from Jiexi county formed the Lintian kongsi republic, an autonomous polity named after a temple in Jiexi dedicated to the Lords of the Three Mountains in Jieyang (Chinese: 三山国王祖庙 aka 揭阳霖田祖庙).

There are ambitions to make Jiexi County a more attractive tourist destination following investment in 2010.

[3] The Lords of the Three Mountains, also Kings of the Three Mountains) are a triad Taoist deities worshiped in Southern China (mainly Teochew people) and the part of Hakka people in Taiwan.