The municipal area measures 446 ha[3] and the village sits at an elevation of 326 m above sea level.

Until the first afforestation efforts in the 1950s, there were only broadleaf forests in Reiffelbach, with the predominant species being beeches and oaks.

Subsequent private afforestation projects were undertaken, on the forestry office's advice, with spruce and Douglas-fir trees.

In 1963, the “Kleeberg” (“Clover Mountain”) was bought by the forestry office, as was the “Frauenhölle” (“Women’s Hell”) in 1965, and both were afforested with coniferous forest (larch trees, among others).

Until the early 20th century, the foremost uses of the local woodlands were for building material, mine timbers and firewood, and oak bark was harvested and shipped to Meisenheim for tanning.

[5] Clockwise from the north, Reiffelbach's neighbours are the town of Meisenheim and the municipalities of Callbach, Schmittweiler, Becherbach and Odenbach, all of which likewise lie within the Bad Kreuznach district but for Odenbach, which lies in the neighbouring Kusel district.

At this time, one third of the tithes were given as a fief by the knight Sir Eberhard of Odenbach to his wife Agnes.

In the early 15th century, the village's name appeared in documents in several different forms, among which were Rifelbach (1401), Ryffelbach (1404), Riffelbach (1406) and Rieffelbach (1440).

In 1526, the Reformation was introduced into Meisenheim, with its inevitable attendant effect in Reiffelbach, given the ecclesiastical link.

In 1815, as a result of the Congress of Vienna, Reiffelbach found itself in the Oberamt of Meisenheim in the Landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg.

After it ended, those men from the village who had fallen or gone missing had their names engraved on the local war memorial.

In 1921, the municipality decided that it was going to keep wild boars and goats, and also that year, a fire brigade was established in which all the village's men between the ages of 16 and 50 were required to serve.

In 1945, German soldiers – Prussians – retreated through the village on their way to Roth; for a while, an artillery unit was stationed in the “Muhl”, which had been cleared some years earlier.

That same year, the war ended and Germany was occupied by the victorious Allies (Reiffelbach found itself in the French zone).

Yet another postbus route, Landkraftpostlinie II (beginning from Rockenhausen), was instituted in 1948, and also that year, the farmers’ and winegrowers’ association was founded, although winegrowing would only continue in the village for another two decades or so; a conversation club was founded the next year.

In 1954, some major work was undertaken on the waterworks, formerly centred at the coal galleries at the Hollerbach pits.

In 1960, the village's namesake brook, the Reiffelbach, was channelled into an underground pipe, and sewerage was laid in the streets.

Also in the early and mid 1960s, a number of measures were undertaken by the forestry office to expand the village's woodlands.

In 1966, a sporting ground was laid out in the Hollerbach, where the shooting club's clubhouse was also built at about the same time.

In 1993, Reiffelbach celebrated 700 years of existence (at least since the first documentary mention), and a municipal flag was approved for use.

[6] Ecclesiastically, Reiffelbach belongs, as it long has, to the Evangelical Church of the Palatinate and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Speyer.

Landesstraße 380 leads northwards towards Callbach where it links with Bundesstraße 420, whence it is a very short drive into Meisenheim.

The railway running through nearby Meisenheim is nowadays only used for recreational draisine touring.