While the riding covers a large area, about three quarters of the population in the district live in the city of Kamloops.

This district was created as Kamloops—Thompson in 2003 from Kamloops, Thompson and Highland Valleys riding and small parts of Cariboo—Chilcotin and Prince George—Bulkley Valley ridings.

[2] The redefined Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo loses a portion of its current territory consisting of the community of Valemount and area to Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies but is otherwise unchanged.

These new boundaries were legally defined in the 2013 representation order, which came into effect upon the call of the 42nd Canadian federal election, scheduled for October 2015.

[3] Under the 2022 Canadian federal electoral redistribution the riding will be replaced by Kamloops—Thompson—Nicola.