Located in a periglacial environment, the community is situated on the Porcupine River in the far northern part of the territory.

A large number of apparently human modified animal bones have been discovered in the Old Crow area, notably at Bluefish Caves, about 380 km (240 mi) south, and the Old Crow Flats, located about 14 km (8.7 mi) south, that have been dated to 25,000–40,000 years ago by carbon dating, several thousand years earlier than generally accepted human habitation of North America.

[5] The Porcupine caribou herd migrates to the coastal plain in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska to give birth to their young.

Many citizens of Old Crow believe the herd is being seriously threatened by oil-drilling in the ANWR and have been heavily involved in lobbying to prevent it.

The first fiddle was brought to the community over 100 years ago after being introduced by the Hudson's Bay Company.

[16] In 2019, the microgrid was extended by a PV plant which generates electricity in the summer season, thus saving about 190.000 litres of diesel per year (~$400,000 /a).

The plant has been built in a back-to-back configuration to receive a mostly continuous solar harvest during the day.

[17][18] By May 2021, the solar plant had begun producing electricity, projected to be fully operational by July and capable of letting the community turn off their diesel generators on sunny days.

The long-distance connection originally relied on a microwave relay at Rat Pass near the Yukon/NWT border, which also provide a radio-telephone base station along the Dempster Highway, but it was frequently out of service in winter when weather conditions made helicopter access hazardous.