This vole has prominent, rounded ears, and long coarse fur, buffy to yellowish gray on the sides and silvery gray on the underparts of the body. The dark brown above and gray below 1.4-1.8 in tail, and reddish chestnut band along the back from the forehead to the base of the tail. Adults vary in total length from 5.2-5.9 in, and weigh about1.0 oz. Belly hairs are black at the base with silver tips. The tail is darker above and lighter below. he summer fur color is darker and duskier than the winter fur. Predators include hawks, owls, and mustelids.

The southern red-backed vole occurs in all terrestrial habitats of the Adirondacks including alpine tundra, bogs, and swamp edges, and at all elevations. However, it prefers moist forests, especially the mixed coniferous-deciduous, with an abundant supply of logs, stumps, roots, rocks, and twigs which provide shelter, food, and moisture or humidity. Population levels, precipitation, and the relative abundance of other small mammals such as meadow vole influence local distribution in marginal habitat. Unlike other voles, these voles do not build elaborate tunnel systems, but rather use burrows of other animals and natural features like rocks and logs.