Xinghai County, subordinate to Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province, is located in the east of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the southwest of Qinghai Province. Its geographical coordinates are 34°48 '-36°14' north and 99°01 '-100°59' east. It is located in the "Sanjiangyuan" national Nature protection core area, facing Guinan County and Tongde County on the Yellow River in the east, and Duran County of Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the west. Guoluo Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is adjacent to Maqin County and Maduo County in the south and Gonghe County in the north. It is 270 kilometers from the provincial capital Xining and 128 kilometers from Chabcha Town, the capital of Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The total area of the region is 12,100 square kilometers.

Xinghai County has an average elevation of 3,924 meters (Ziketan Town, the county seat, is 3,303 meters above sea level). The highest point in the Ola Mountains is 5,305 meters above sea level, and the lowest point is 2,590 meters above sea level at the exit of the Yellow River in Wuheto, Heka Town. As of October 2021, Xinghai County has jurisdiction over 3 towns and 4 townships, 57 administrative villages and 7 communities. According to the seventh census, the permanent population of Xinghai County was 75,833 as of midnight on November 1, 2020.
On September 25, 2018, it was awarded the honorary title of "2018 E-commerce into Rural Comprehensive Demonstration County" by the Ministry of Commerce. On December 29, 2018, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission named the sixth batch of national Ethnic unity and progress demonstration zone (unit). On May 15, 2019, the Qinghai provincial government issued an announcement that 12 counties (cities), including Xinghai County, were removed from the poverty-stricken counties list. On September 27, 2019, Xinghai County Committee of the Communist Party of China awarded the title of National Unity and Progress Model Collective.

In 2019, the GDP of Xinghai County was 2,431.49 million yuan, the added value of the primary industry was 964.03 million yuan, the added value of the secondary industry was 763.17 million yuan, the general public budget revenue was 91.52 million yuan, and the general public budget expenditure was 1,616.63 million yuan.