Nestled at the crossroads of Highway 39 and Highway 621 in southern Saskatchewan, Yellow Grass sits approximately 25 kilometres northwest of Weyburn within the Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98. The town occupies a land area of 2.67 square kilometres at an elevation of 572 metres above sea level, and is served by the Canadian Pacific Railway Soo Line. Its name comes directly from the golden-hued prairie grasses that blanket the surrounding landscape – a fitting description of the open plains that define this part of the province.
The townsite was first surveyed in 1882, and the arrival of the railway in 1893 spurred its early development. Yellow Grass became an incorporated village on July 22, 1903, following an application to the North-West Territories government, and was elevated to town status on February 15, 1906. The community experienced two notable boom periods – the first beginning around 1899, and a larger wave of growth in the post-World War I years that lasted through the late 1920s. The construction of Highway 39 and easier access to larger centres contributed to a gradual commercial decline, and the Great Depression compounded those challenges significantly. Agriculture rebounded after World War II, and today the local economy revolves around crops such as wheat, durum wheat, barley, lentils, peas, canola, and flax, with some producers also raising cattle, bison, and elk. A number of residents commute to the nearby city of Weyburn for work in manufacturing, retail, health services, and the oil sector. According to the 2021 Census, Yellow Grass had a population of 483 residents living in 191 of its 205 private dwellings, a modest increase from 478 in 2016, reflecting a population density of roughly 180.9 people per square kilometre.