Xiahe County is under the jurisdiction of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu Province. It is named after the Great Xia River.

Xiahe County is located in the northwest of Gannan Prefecture, adjacent to Hezuo City and Luqu County in the east and south respectively; Linxia Prefecture and Xunhua County and Tongren City in Qinghai Province in the north; It is connected to Zeku County, Qinghai Province in the west.

According to the data of the seventh population census, as of 0:00 on November 1, 2020, the permanent population of Xiahe County was 86355. As of October 2021, Xiahe County has 8 towns, 5 townships, 1 office, 65 administrative villages, 4 urban communities and 427 village groups under its jurisdiction, and the county government is located in Labrang Town.

In 2018, the annual GDP of Xiahe County reached 1.8 billion yuan, up 4.6% year on year.

On April 28, 2019, the Gansu Provincial Government approved Xiahe County to officially withdraw from the poverty-stricken county.