Kalinga is a landlocked province in the northernmost section of the Cordillera Region. It is bounded by the provinces of Cagayan and Apayao in the north, Mt. Province in the south, and Abra in the West. The greater sections of Cagayan and Isabela are found on its eastern part.

Sharp-crested interlinking mountain peaks, steep slopes, isolated flat lands, plateau's and valley characterize the western side while the eastern section is generally rolling with gradually sloping foothills, interlocking wide track of flat lands and floodplains along its main rivers. Among land and waterforms which constitute potential tourism sights are its waterfalls, hot springs, rice terraces and subterranean rivers.

Composed of seven municipalities and one component city, the province's land area as of 2010 is 3,164.3 square kilometers occupying 17% of the Cordillera Administrative Region's land area.

A sizeable 85.96% of the total land area has been declared under the Revised Forestry Code inalienable and disposable or public land leaving only 14.04% as alienable disposable. This can be counted as a major issue aside from the inaccessibilty attributed by the terrain of the province.

Under the national population count conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), as of May 2020, Kalinga registered a total population of 229,570 with an annual growth rate (PGR) of 1.62 percent from 2015 to 2020. The City of Tabuk has the highest population count 121,033 persons. This is because Tabuk City is the capital of the province and is the center of commerce, trade and industry making the city an immigration area. The least populated town is Tanudan with only 8,746 populatioln count.

The province is richly endowed with mineral resources, both metallic and non-metallic which are said to be mostly found in the municipalities of Balbalan and Pasil. There are also evidences on the presence of non-metallic reserves such as sulphur, gravel and sand.