The gray-tailed vole is a medium-sized vole with yellowish-brown or yellowish-gray dorsal pelage and a short tail, blackish or brownish above and light gray below.

It is endemic to the Willamette Valley and occurs from near Scapoose and Gresham south through the Willamette Valley to near Eugene. It is associated largely with agricultural lands, particularly small grains, grasses grown for seed, permanent pastures and hay fields, and waste places vegetated with grasses. These voles occasionally become so abundant that control measures are necessary.