According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 1.01 square miles (2.62 km2), all land.

Richland is located in the middle of what was once the Gull Prairie, an upland area relatively free of trees and maintained by natural and man-made fires.

The area had a few Pottawatamie villages, one was located on the west side of nearby Gull Lake.

By the 1830s, the Native Americans had been forced west, and Richland was a thriving frontier village.

Lacking a flowing stream that would have provided water power, Richland never developed significant industry and remained a sleepy farm community until the late twentieth century.

In the 1980s and 1990s, small employers such as Richard Allen Medical moved to the edge of town, and Richland became a bedroom community for Kalamazoo.

The high quality of the local Gull Lake School District also drew people from surrounding areas.

Brothers Charles S. May and Dwight May, both lieutenant governors of Michigan during the 19th Century, were raised in Richland.