Administratively, Vologda Oblast is divided into four cities and towns of oblast significance and twenty-six districts.

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Vologda Oblast, Russia
Administrative center: Vologda
As of 2013:[1]
# of districts (районы)	26
# of cities/towns (города)	15
# of urban-type settlements (посёлки городского типа)	9
# of selsovets and rural settlement councils (сельсоветы и поселковые советы)	368
As of 2002:[2]
# of rural localities (сельские населённые пункты)	8,041
# of uninhabited rural localities (сельские населённые пункты без населения)	1,625

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In terms of the area, the biggest administrative district is Vytegorsky District (13,100 square kilometers (5,100 sq mi)), the smallest ones are Chagodoshchensky and Ust-Kubinsky Districts (2,400 square kilometers (930 sq mi)).

In terms of the population, the biggest administrative district is Vologodsky District (50,956 in 2002), the smallest one is Mezhdurechensky District (7,641).^[3]

Most of the administrative districts of Vologda Oblast are municipally incorporated as municipal districts, and two of the cities and towns of oblast significance are municipally incorporated as urban okrugs. There are, however, several exceptions,

• The towns of Veliky Ustyug and Krasavino and the urban-type settlement of Kuzino are municipally incorporated as separate urban settlements of Velikoustyugsky Municipal District;
• The town of Sokol is municipally incorporated as Sokolskoye Urban Settlement of Sokolsky Municipal District.

December 29 [O.S. December 18], 1708 Tsar Peter the Great issued an edict which established seven governorates.^[4][5] The description of the borders of the governorates was not given; instead, their area was defined as a set of towns and the lands adjacent to those towns. In the present area of Vologda oblast, two of the governorates — Archangelgorod Governorate (east of the oblast) and Ingermanland Governorate (west of the oblast) — were located. The governorates were subdivided into uyezds, and uyezds into volosts.

The centers of the following uyezds of Archangelgorod Governorate were located in the present-day area of Vologda Oblast,

• Charondsky Uyezd (the administrative center was Charonda);
• Totemsky Uyezd (Totma);
• Velikoustyugsky Uyezd (Ustyug Veliky);
• Vologodsky Uyezd (Vologda).

On June 9 [O.S. May 29], 1719, the governorate was divided into four provinces: Archangelgorod, Vologda, Galich, and Ustyug.^[5] The uyezds were transformed into districts, however, in 1727 the districts were transformed back into uyezds. February 5 [O.S. January 25] 1780 the Archangelgorod Governorate was transformed into Vologda Viceroyalty.^[5] In 1796, the viceroyalty was split into Arkhangelsk and Vologda Governorates. In 1918, the areas which are currently in the east of Vologda Oblast were split off from the Vologda Governorate and moved to the newly established Northern Dvina Governorate. The administrative center of the governorate was Veliky Ustyug.

In 1924, the uyezds of Northern Dvina Governorate were abolished in favor of the new divisions, the districts (raions). Vologda Governorate retained the uyezd division till 1929. On July 15, 1929 the uyezds in Vologda governorate were abolished, and the areas which previously belonged to Vologda and Northern Dvina governorates were merged into Northern Krai. The krai consisted of the Komi-Zyryan Autonomous Oblast, a number of islands in the Arctic Ocean, as well as five administrative districts (okrugs),^[6][7]

• Arkhangelsk Okrug (with the seat located in Arkhangelsk);
• Nenets Okrug (with the borders and the seat to be defined);
• Northern Dvina Okrug (Veliky Ustyug);
• Nyandoma Okrug (Nyandoma);
• Vologda Okrug (Vologda).

All these okrugs (except for the Nenets Okrug) were divided into districts. In 1930, the okrugs were abolished, and the districts became directly subordinate to Northern Krai. In 1936, according to the new Soviet Constitution, the Northern Krai was transformed into Northern Oblast. In 1937, Northern Oblast was split into Arkhangelsk Oblast and Vologda Oblast.

West of Arkhangelsk Governorate, two of the centers of uyezds of Ingermanland Governorate were located in the present-day area of Vologda Oblast,

• Beloozersky Uyezd (the administrative center was Beloozero);
• Ustyuzhensky Uyezd (Ustyuzhna Zheleznopolskaya).

After a series of administrative reforms, by the beginning of the 19th century the west of the oblast belonged to Novgorod Governorate, with the exception of Vytegorsky Uyezd which belonged to Olonets Governorate. In 1922, Olonets Governorate was abolished, and Vytegorsky Uyezd was transferred to Petrograd Governorate (later Leningrad Oblast), with the exception of three volosts, which were moved to Kargopolsky Uyezd and later ended up in Arkhangelsk Oblast.

In June 1918, five uyezds of the Novgorod Governorate, including those located on the area of the present-day Vologda Oblast, were split off to form Cherepovets Governorate, with the administrative center in Cherepovets. On August 1, 1927 Cherepovets Governorate was abolished, and its area became Cherepovets Okrug of Leningrad Oblast. Simultaneously, uyezds were abolished in favor of districts. On September 23, 1937, all these districts (with the towns of Cherepovets, Babayevo, Vytegra, Ustyuzhna, Belozersk, and Kirillov) were transferred to newly established Vologda Oblast.^[8]

In total, the following districts formed Vologda Oblast in 1937:^[8]

• Transferred from Northern Oblast: Biryakovsky, Chyobsarsky, Gryazovetsky, Kharovsky, Kichmengsko-Gorodetsky, Kubeno-Ozersky, Ledengsky, Lezhsky, Mezhdurechensky, Nikolsky, Nyuksensky, Pavinsky, Sokolsky, Syamzhensky, Tarnogsky, Totemsky, Ust-Alekseevsky, Ust-Kubinsky, Velikoustyugsky, Verkhovazhsky, Vokhomsky, Vozhegodsky Districts, as well as the city of Vologda.
• Transferred from Leningrad Oblast: Andomsky, Babayevsky, Belozersky, Borisovo-Sudsky, Chagodoshchensky, Charozersky, Cherepovetsky, Kaduysky, Kirillovsky, Kovzhinsky, Myaksinsky, Oshtinsky, Petrinevsky, Prisheksninsky, Sholsky, Ustyuzhensky, Vashikinsky, Vytegorsky Districts, as well as the city of Cherepovets.

On August 13, 1944 Pavinsky and Vokhomsky Districts were transferred to Kostroma Oblast.^[8]

During the attempted administrative reform in 1963, districts were subdivided into urban and rural districts. The reform was abandoned in 1965, and the division into districts was restored.