Le Cerneux-Péquignot is first mentioned in the 13th century in connection with the Pequignot of Montlebon family.

[3] Le Cerneux-Péquignot has an area, as of 2009[update], of 15.7 square kilometers (6.1 sq mi).

It consists of the village of Le Cerneux-Péquignot, near the French border, along with a number of scattered hamlets and farm houses.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Between four, one in dexter and three in sinister, Pine trees Vert, issuant from Base of the same a Plough Sable.

[9] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks French (300 or 95.8%) as their first language, German is the second most common (8 or 2.6%) and Portuguese is the third (3 or 1.0%).

[12] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][13] In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 27.35% of the vote.

[9] There were 152 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 40.1% of the workforce.

In the tertiary sector; 4 or 22.2% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 4 or 22.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was in the information industry, 2 or 11.1% were technical professionals or scientists, 3 or 16.7% were in education.

[9] From the 2000 census[update], 171 or 54.6% were Roman Catholic, while 86 or 27.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

Of the rest of the population, there was 1 member of an Orthodox church and 1 individual who was Islamic.

[17] During the 2010-11 school year, there were 0.5 kindergarten classes with a total of 6 students in Le Cerneux-Péquignot.