The town has 13 suburban administrative districts: Heimbach-Weis, Gladbach, Engers, Oberbieber, Niederbieber, Torney, Segendorf, Altwied, Block, Irlich, Feldkirchen, Heddesdorf and Rodenbach.

Neuwied was founded in 1653 by Count Frederick III of Wied, initially as a fortress on the site of the village of Langendorf, which had been destroyed in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648).

From the middle of the 18th century, members of seven religious communities lived in Neuwied: Calvinists, to which the count's house also belonged, Lutherans, Catholics, Mennonites, Inspirationalists, Moravian Brethren and Jews.

Handicraft products by the cabinetmakers Abraham and David Roentgen, who belonged to the Moravian Brethren, or the Mennonite clockmaker Peter Kinzing were found at almost all important courts of Europe between Versailles and St. Petersburg.

His father's line emigrated to the North American colonies, arriving in New York in 1710, the year of a massive immigration of nearly 2800 Palatine German refugees, whose transportation costs from London were covered by Queen Anne's British government.

The place of the abandoned former village of Rockenfeld, which is considered to be the origin and namesake of the famous Rockefeller family, also belongs to today's municipal territory of Neuwied.

The 2019 municipal council elections led to the following distribution of seats: CDU (15), SPD (12), Greens (7), AfD (5), FWG (3), FDP (2), The Left (2), Ich tu's (2).