The city was named after the Chusovaya river, which means "fast water" in the Komi-Permyak language.  According to the research conducted by the local regional ethnographers, the settlement on the Chusovaya emerged over 400 years ago.  In 1933, the Chusovoy urban-type community was assigned the city status. 

The city’s geographical location predetermined its historical destiny and its economy’s specific nature.  It was just in this location that Yermak's forces were formed to proceed over the Chusovaya river to conquer Siberia.  Here, in the very heart of the Urals, the first railroad branch was laid in 1878, connecting the mining Urals area with Central Russia.  The French/Russian joint-stock company founded an ironworks here in 1879, which subsequently became a major metallurgical plant with complete technological metal-making cycle. 

During the Great Patriotic War, the city located in the deep rear was totally converted to the defense production.  The wounded came in to the Chusovoy hospitals from all the front lines.  The metallurgical plant and the junction railway station operated under the wartime rules. 

During the war time, Chusovoy admitted workers from Kerch, Dnepropetrovsk, Lipetsk, Yenakiyev along with factory equipment.  The city was awarded the Honour Sign order for contribution to the victory over the enemy during the Great Patriotic War. 

The city’s population is currently 80,000 people, including 59,000 residing in the city and 21,000 residing in the rural areas.  The Chusovoy district has an area of 3,500 km².  The main industries are metallurgical production, wood processing, and ballast quarry.  The number of municipal enterprises is increasing. 

The city has rich sport traditions.  The Ogonyok children and adolescent Olympic reserve sport school is well-known far beyond Russia, specializing in training winter sports masters – freestyle, sledding, mountain skis.  The Chusovoy sport facility often hosts various regional and federal sport competitions in ski racing, sledding, freestyle, auto racing, and weight-lifting. 

Chusovoy has a museum of the Chusovaya river history, functioning as part of a rich regional history complex.  The city has a home museum of V.P. Astafiyev, a renowned Russian writer who started his literary career right here, in the land of Chusovoy. 

Viktor Fyodorovich Buriyanov has been the head of the city administration since 1996.  The 11-member City Duma currently includes 8 representatives of the Chusovoy Metallurgical Works.