Administration of Jodhpur district is carried out by the District Collector. The office of the Divisional Commissioner is situated in the campus of the District Collectorate of Jodhpur. Jodhpur is the largest division of Rajasthan which comprises of six districts- Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Barmer, Pali, Sirohi and Jalore. Jodhpur is the largest district (in terms of population) of the Division and administrative control and monitoring of this division is carried out mainly from here only. As has already been stated, District Magistrate and Collector is the head of District Administration. He is assisted by four Additional District Magistrates- Additional District Magistrate-I; Additional District Magistrate-II; Additional District Magistrate-City and Additional District Magistrate-Land Conversion. Along with 4 Additional District Magistrates, there is also one (Development) who is also a project director, DRDA and CEO, Zila Parishad.

For the purposes of administration and development, the district is divided into five sub-divisions, namely, Jodhpur, Pipar City, Shergarh, Osian and Phalodi and seven tehsils, i.e., Jodhpur, Osian, Phalodi, Bilara, Bhopalgarh, Luni and Shergarh. The developmental activities of the district are being looked after by nine Panchayat Samities, i.e. Mandore, Luni, Osian, Bap, Phalodi, Shergarh, Balesar, Bhopalgarh and Bilara. There 1080 villages and 339 panchayats. There is seen a further division into 4 independent upa-tehsils for better administration. These are Baleswar, Bap, Jhanwar and Tinwari.

There is one Municipal Corporation for Jodhpur city and three Municipal Councils at Bilara, Pipar and Phalodi. The Municipal council came into existence in the year 1874 and it was called Municipal Council in those days. The state of Rajasthan has 3 categories of municipal bodies according to the size of the towns. Smallest towns have municipal boards, medium towns have municipal council, and 3 big cities viz. Jaipur, Jodhpur and Kota have municipal corporations. The Municipal Corporation has 60 elected members known as corporators (ward members) representing their respective wards (60 geographical units of the city). The ward members are elected by direct voting by ward-wise electorate for a period of 5 years. In addition to these 60 directly elected members the corporation has 4 Ex-officio members (1 Member of Parliament, 3 members of legislative assembly namely Sardarpura, Soorsagar, City) and 3 Nominated Members.

Rural India, which accounts for nearly three fourths of the India`s population, is characterized by low income levels which are inadequate to ensure a quality of life compatible with physical well being of common man. Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department in accordance with the policies of the Central and State governments, is responsible at the grassroots for launching a frontal attack on rural poverty through various programmes which endeavour to reach out to the last and most disadvantaged sections of society, provide them with avenues of employment and to improve infrastructure relating to their life-supporting systems. The agency of the Zila Parishad of Jodhpur was registered with cooperative department vide registration certificate no. 147/74-75 dated 10-10-74. Earlier the name of DRDA was District Development Agency (DDA). But as per the order of state Govt. no. F3 (31) agriculture/12/80 dated 17-03-91 the name was changed to District Rural Development Agency. After that, by another order no. F16 (5) DS/Group 1/95 Jaipur dated 14-01-1991, DRDA was reorganised and under that Zila Pramukh of Zila Parishad has been made Chairman of DRDA and District Collector Executive Director. This order has become effective from 6-02-99. DRDA has its own building in the Collectorate Campus.

At the district level the Zila Parishad is responsible for the implementation of the rural development programmes. The governing body of the Zila Parishad includes the Members of Parliament (MPs), Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs), district level officials of related departments, and representatives of the weaker sections of the society. At the block level the Block Development Officer and at the village level, the Gram Sevaks (Village Representatives) are responsible for the implementation of rural development plans. Some of the rural development programs being implemented by the Zila Parishad are Sampoorna Grameen Rojgar Yojana (SGRY), Saansad Sthaniya Kshetra Vikas Karyakram (MP Local Area Development Program) MPLAD, Vidhayak Sthaniya Kshetra Vikas Karyakram (MLA Local Area Development Program) MLALAD, Swarna Jayanti Swarojgaar Yojana (Golden Jubilee Self-employment Scheme) SJSY, Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), Guru Govalkar Yojana (GGY), National Social Assistance Programme, Desert Development Programme, Combating Desertification Programme and Gram Sarthi among others.