The A24 road and the M25 motorway are the main thoroughfares and relative to London the incidence of car ownership is high.

The neighbouring districts are Epsom and Ewell, Reigate and Banstead, Crawley, Horsham, Waverley, Guildford, Elmbridge and Kingston upon Thames, the latter being a London borough.

[7] Parts of the district are covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government for their areas.

[21] It was built in the grounds of a large Victorian house, called Pippbrook House, which had served as the headquarters of the old Dorking Urban District Council from 1931 and then as Mole Valley District Council's headquarters until the new building opened.

[8][23] The rest of the district is covered by civil parishes:[24][25] A Legatum Prosperity Index published by the Legatum Institute in October 2016 showed Mole Valley as the second most prosperous council area in the United Kingdom, after the nearby Borough of Waverley.