Neighbouring municipalities are Jyväskylä, Laukaa, Multia, Petäjävesi, Saarijärvi and Äänekoski.

[9] The area of modern Uurainen was devoid of a permanent settled population in the Middle Ages.

In the 15th and early 16th centuries, these lands were held as hunting grounds by Tavastians.

The first settler of Uurainen was Paavo Minkkinen, who in 1548 established a farm named Salmela in the hunting grounds of Heinäjoensuu, owned by the men of the village of Laitikkala in Kulsiala (nowadays in Pälkäne).

The area got its own chapel in 1801 and was variously called Uurainen, Kuukkajärvi, Kuukka and Minkkilä.

[12] The northern part of Nyrölä, which at that time included Höytiä, was transferred from the Jyväskylä parish to Uurainen in 1868.