Tongde County, located in the southeast of Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province, borders Zeku County of Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Mongolian Autonomous County of Henan Province in the east, faces Maqin County of Guoluo Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture across the Yellow River in the south, borders Xinghai County in the west and Guinan County in the north, and is located in the upper reaches of the Yellow River basin. The total administrative area of Tongde County is 4,652.8 square kilometers. By 2022, Tongde County has jurisdiction over 2 towns and 3 townships, 73 administrative villages and 11 communities. Another jurisdiction over a township level administrative unit provincial road west Jiu highway from north to south through the entire territory, the Yellow River from east to west to half a ring around the county. Gabasongdo Town, the seat of the county, is 3,060 meters above sea level, 256 kilometers from the state capital, Chabcha Town, 282 kilometers from the provincial capital, Xining City. According to the seventh census, as of midnight on November 1, 2020, the permanent population of Tongde county was 60,268.

The climate is a typical plateau continental climate. The highest altitude in the county is 4671 meters, the lowest is 2648 meters, and the average altitude is 3660 meters. The average annual temperature is 0.4℃ -- 0.6℃, the average annual precipitation is 440mm, and there is no absolute frost-free period. It has jurisdiction over 73 administrative villages in 2 towns and 3 townships. In 2009, residents of Han, Tibetan, Hui, Mongol, Tu and Salah ethnic groups were living there, with the Tibetan population accounting for 90.3% of the total population.
In 2004, Tongde County was listed as the Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve by the state, involving 15,900 people from 2,886 households in 25 villages of 3 towns and townships, with a planned area of 3,174,400 mu, accounting for 56% of the grassland area, playing a decisive role in the ecological environment management and protection of the upper reaches of the Yellow River.

In October 2017, the Qinghai government agreed to remove Tongde from the poverty-stricken counties in the province.
In 2019, the GDP of Tongde County was 1.497.84 million yuan, the added value of the primary industry was 934.51 million yuan, the added value of the secondary industry was 19.385 million yuan, the general public budget revenue was 36.04 million yuan, and the general public budget expenditure was 1383.66 million yuan.