The main den is in a pile of brush or rocks, a crevice, a hollow tree, or a burrow that is either self-excavated or taken over from another animal. Dens in hollow trees have been found up to 9.1 meters above the ground. Urocyon is sometimes called a tree fox, because it frequently climbs trees, a rather unusual habit for a canid. It lacks the endurance of the red fox, and when pursued, it often will seek refuge in a tree. It also climbs without provocation, shinnying up the trunk and then leaping from branch to branch.
Most activity is nocturnal and crepuscular.
The diet includes many kinds of small vertebrates as well as insects and vegetable matter. Urocyon seems to take plant food more than do other foxes, and its diet may consist mostly of fruits and grains at certain seasons and places. Reported home range size varies from 0.13 to 7.7 sq km. Apparently, each family group uses a separate area. The normal social unit is an adult pair and their young.