The district Raichur is bounded on the North by the district of Gulberga, on the West by the districts of Bijapur and Dharwar, on the East by the district of Mababoobnagar of Andhra Pradesh, and on the South are the districts of Kurnool also of Andhra Pradesh, and Bellary. The two rivers, the Krishna and the Tungabhadra from the entire North and Southern boundaries of the district.

The geographical area of the district, according to the Central statistical organization of the Government of India, is 14,013 Sq Kilometers which works out to 5410 sq. miles. But the reporting area of the district for land utilization purposes, as worked out by the Commissioner for Survey, Settlement and Land Records in Mysore, Bangalore is 14007.9 Sq.Kilometers or 5,435.5 sq.miles. This slight difference is due to the different methods employed by them in measuring the area. The population of the district according the 1961 census, was 11,00,895. In terms of area, the district occupies the third place among the districts of the State, while in respect of population it occupies the tenth place. It accounts for 7.36 percent of the total area and 4.6 percent of the total population of the State in 1961; the density of population then worked out to 202.51 per square mile or 77 per square kilometer and this was much below the State average, which was 319 per square mile or 123 per square kilometer, and the lowest next only to North Kanara district.