The krai was located in the north of European Russia, and its territory is currently divided between Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Kostroma, and Kirov Oblasts, the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, and the Komi Republic.

[2] On July 15, 1929 the All-Russian Central Executive Committee issued a decree splitting Northern Krai (with the exception of the Komi-Zyryan Autonomous Oblast, which remain as a single unit with the seat in Ust-Sysolsk, and the islands of Vaygach, Kolguev, Matveyev, Novaya Zemlya, Solovetsky Islands, and Franz Josef Land) into five administrative districts (okrugs)[3] Before the krai was established, the division of its constituent governorates mixed the old division inherited from the Russian Empire (uyezds) with the new one (districts, or raions).

All okrugs and the Komi-Zyryan Autonomous Oblast were divided into districts, and the Arctic ocean islands remained subordinate to the Krai executive committee.

On February 10, 1934, Novaya Zemlya, Vaygach, and a number of smaller islands in the Barents and Kara Seas were moved to the Nenets National Okrug.

Three of the districts of Northern Krai, Lalsky, Oparinsky, and Podosinovsky, as the result of some later administrative changes, ended up in Kirov Oblast.