Located within the larger sub-county of Kasarani, it is approximately 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) northeast of Nairobi's central business district off Thika Road.

Ruaraka is located approximately 8 kilometres (5 mi) northeast of Nairobi's central business district, within the sub-county of Kasarani.

Ruaraka came to being in 1922 when two Welsh brothers Charles and George Hurst, and a friend H. A. Dowding, gained interest in an inhabited area along a river known as Rui-Rwa-Aka, that reserved for the Kikuyu girls during circumcision.

[1][3] In 1960, a Danish businessman, Baron U. Akerhielm, established another factory to supply EABL with brewery tanks.

Allsops, Baba Dogo and the Tusker Village, neighbourhoods form part of the Ruaraka.