The town of Paraparaumu, considered the pivot of the district, is located about 55 km north of Wellington.

The area has an oceanic climate with moderate temperature swings between seasons, resulting in warm summers and mild winters without any severe heat waves or cold spells.

[8] Te Rauparaha established a base on Kapiti Island, from where he was able to launch attacks on other tribes during the Musket Wars of the early 19th century.

[citation needed] European settlement of the Kāpiti Coast only took place on a significant scale after the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR) opened its railway line from Wellington to Longburn, just south of Palmerston North.

[9] In June 1940, the Wellington-Paekākāriki section was electrified as electric locomotives provided better motive power.

This meant trains would swap from steam (and later diesel-electric) to electric traction in Paekākāriki, and it retained its status as a significant locomotive depot.

During World War II, Queen Elizabeth Park – a large tract of parkland between Raumati South and Paekākāriki – was the location of two United States Army and Marines camps, McKay and Russell.

[11] In a back and forth manner, vandals have repeatedly added and removed macrons from signage in the district.

In New Zealand's local government reforms of 1989, the borough council was replaced by the Kapiti Coast District Council, and the area under its jurisdiction expanded northwards to include Waikanae and Ōtaki, which had been part of the Horowhenua County.

[30] The population of the district has grown rapidly since the 1980s, fuelled in large part by Wellingtonians moving there to retire.

Light industry is focused in Paraparaumu and Ōtaki, with small clusters in Waikanae and Raumati.

Transdev operates electric commuter trains along a portion of the North Island Main Trunk Railway referred to as the Kapiti Line on behalf of Metlink (the Greater Wellington public transport brand), and the KiwiRail Capital Connection commuter train from Palmerston North to Wellington provides a service for commuters north of the electric terminus in Waikanae.

Metlink also provides regular local bus services throughout the Kāpiti Coast, operated by Uzabus.

In February 2017, an 18 km (11 mi) long expressway diversion from Mackays Crossing north of Paekākāriki to just north of Peka Peka, was opened[31] to enable State Highway 1 to bypass developed urban areas.

[33] The district is on the North Island Main Trunk railway line (NIMT) and served as far north as Waikanae by suburban passenger trains on the Kapiti Line, one of Wellington's three Metlink commuter rail links.

The small Kapiti Coast Airport is sandwiched between Paraparaumu (to the north) and Raumati (to the south).

Scenes from his movies Lord of the Rings and King Kong were filmed on the Kāpiti Coast.

Some of the seminal battle scenes in the fields in front of Minas Tirith in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King were shot in part at Queen Elizabeth Park.

The Kapiti Bears operate out of Matthews Park, Menin Road, and are affiliated with the Wellington Rugby League Association.