Jammu district derives its name from Jammu city, which besides being the winter capital of Jammu & Kashmir, is known as the city of temples. It is believed that the city was originally founded by Raja Jamboo Lochan who lived in fourteenth century BC. The Raja had gone out one day for hunting when he happened to witness a tiger and a goat drinking water from one and the same pond. This extraordinary phenomenon set him thinking and he decided to build a city at this site so that the strong and weak could live together in peace and mutual tolerance. Eventually, he founded the city which came to be known as "Jamboo" after his own name. With the passage of time and due to its frequent use the pronunciation of the name got slightly distorted and the city, came to be known as 'Jammu' as it is called now.

The District is bounded in the north and north east by the Tehsils of Reasi in Udhampur district in the east and south east partly by tehsil Ramnagar of Udhampur district and partly by tehsil Billawar of Kathua district, in the south and south west by Kathua district and Sialkot district of Rawalpindi (Pak) and in the north west by Tehsil Nowshara of district Rajouri and parts of the district Bhimber now under the occupation of Pakistan.

District Jammu falls in sub-mountainous region at the foothills of the Himalayas. Shivalik range rises gradually in the north part of the district and merges with the Indo-Gangetic plains in the south. Jammu city is at an elevation of 1030 feet above the sea level.

The District comprises five tehsils i.e. Jammu, Samba, R. S. Pura, Akhnoor and Bishnah. The entire district can be divided into two distinct portions. The area forming north of Jammu-Chhamb road and Jammu-Pathankot road which is known as Kandi area is comparatively under-developed and is mostly rain-fed. The area south of these roads is largely fed by canal and tubewells for irrigation purposes and is relatively more prosperous. As per the census of 1981, Jammu district consists of 1192 villages.

Jammu district has a sub tropical climate with hot and dry climate in summer and cold climate in winter. Being in the foothills of the mountains, nights are generally cooler than what they are in the neighboring areas of Punjab. Minimum and Maximum temperature is around 4 Degree C and 47 Degree C respectively. Rainy season usually starts from the end of June or the beginning of July. Average rainfall in the district is about 1246 mm.

The total area of Jammu district is 3097 sq km. In 1996-97, the net area sown was 2.74 lakh acres. Adding to it, the areas sown more than once which was of the order of 2.59 lakh acres, the gross cultivated area works out to be 5.33 lakh acres. Similarly, the gross irrigated area was 1.49 lakh acres out of which the net irrigated area was only 1.31 lakh acres.