The community of Kirchhundem lies in the Olpe district's southeast in the south Sauerland and belongs to the so-called Bilsteiner Bergland (mountain region).

The community's highest elevation can be found here, the Hohe Hessel at 743 m. The Kirchhundem area is drained by the Hundem, which rises near Oberhundem and flows northwest to the Lenne.

In the east and south, the towns of Bad Berleburg, Erndtebrück, Hilchenbach and Kreuztal, all lying in Siegen-Wittgenstein district, also abut Kirchhundem.

The community's southern limit with the neighbouring district of Siegen-Wittgenstein has more than one function: in the east, it is the watershed between the Rhine and Weser and in the west between the Sieg and Ruhr.

Historically it was also the border between the Duchy of Westphalia, a possession of the Electorate of Cologne in the north, and the Principality of Nassau-Siegen and the County of Wittgenstein-Berleburg in the south.

This time is still witnessed by many historic border stones and old fortification walls known to people in the victorious lands as the Kölsches Heck (roughly "Cologne Hedge").

Beeches dominated the hills and slopes while oaks, elms, maples and other kinds of trees held sway in the dales.

The first people are believed to have settled in the area of the Altes Feld ("Old Field") near Kirchhundem and in the Olpe Valley.

The Hundem area's – "curia nomine homede" – first documentary mention might be the one found in one of Emperor Frederick I's documents from the year 1153.

The oldest undisputed reference is a document from the Kirchhundem parish archive from the year 1249, in which the conditions are laid out whereby Vogt (roughly "reeve") Widekind of Hundem (a mediaeval name for Kirchhundem's main centre) was to allow his people and others to make the Margaretenaltar at Hundem their own.

Johann II von Bilstein relinquished his lordly claim to Count Gottfried IV of Arnsberg in 1350.

After Johann's death in 1363, however, Gottfried could not assert his claim to the land of Bilstein and it fell to Count Engelbert III von der Mark.

As a result of the Soest Feud, the land of Bilstein, and thereby also the area that is now the community of Kirchhundem, ended up in the ownership of the Archbishop of Cologne in 1445.

After Napoleon's abdication, Grand Duke Ludwig I also had to relinquish his holdings in Prussia, which he had only acquired a few years earlier.

Owing to its long historical connection with possessions of the Archbishop of Cologne, the community of Kirchhundem is overwhelmingly Catholic in character.

Within the municipal area are twelve Catholic parishes (Albaum, Benolpe, Heinsberg, Hofolpe, Kirchhundem, Kohlhagen, Marmecke, Oberhundem, Rahrbach, Silberg, Welschen-Ennest and Würdinghausen).

The parishes of Albaum, Heinsberg, Hofolpe, Kirchhundem, Marmecke, Oberhundem and Würdinghausen form one such cluster, named the Pastoralverbund Hundemtal and another such cluster is made up of the parishes of Benolpe, Kohlhagen, Rahrbach, Silberg and Welschen-Ennest and named the Pastoralverbund Am Cölschen Heck.

Kirchhundem offers, with its location on the Rothaarsteig trail, which runs from Brilon to Dillenburg, recreational activity that is especially interesting for hikers.

Also in Oberhundem are found the Schloss Adolfsburg, a Baroque residential castle with a moat, and the amusement park Panorama-Park Sauerland, which is even open in the winter.

The community's hallmark is the Rhein-Weser-Turm, an observation tower built in 1932 to afford views of the Rhine-Weser watershed.

At the Albaumer Klippen (cliffs), which are composed of silicate, is found crevice vegetation that has been deemed worthy of protection, surrounded by mixed forests on the slopes full of ravines and oaktrees.

The Stelborner Klippen are only moderately shaded silicate cliffs made up of cinder and crystal tuffs with crevice vegetation and partly beech and oak forests growing on scree.

Artificial turf fields have been built in Albaum, Brachthausen, Heinsberg, Kirchhundem, Oberhundem and Rahrbach.