Created in 2007, the ward elects three councillors using the single transferable vote electoral system and covers an area with a population of 14,237 people.

The ward was created following the Fourth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2007 Scottish local elections.

Rutherglen North covers a suburban area in the north of Rutherglen – the northernmost part of South Lanarkshire – including the neighbourhoods of Burgh, Bankhead, Burnhill, Gallowflat and Farme Cross as well as the unpopulated Shawfield industrial area.

The ward's northern and western boundary is the long-established division with Glasgow City Council, part of which runs along the River Clyde.

[2] Prior to the local government reforms in the 1990s, Rutherglen was within the Glasgow District under Strathclyde Regional Council.