Geography
Oaxaca covers 93,757 km², the fifth-largest state, and almost all of it is mountainous. The Sierra Madre del Sur runs along the Pacific side, the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca along the Gulf side, and the two meet in the Sierra Mixteca in the north-west. Between them lie the Valles Centrales, three arms of flat land at about 1,550 m that meet at the capital; Monte Albán, the Zapotec capital occupied from around 500 BC, stands on a ridge above the junction. The state's highest ground is Cerro Nube in the Sierra Sur, about 3,720 m.
East of the mountains the land drops to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the narrowest part of Mexico at about 215 km between the Pacific and the Gulf, and the route of the Interoceanic Corridor rail and road project. The Papaloapan basin in the north drains to the Gulf and holds the Miguel Alemán and Cerro de Oro reservoirs. The Pacific coastline runs about 570 km, from the Costa Chica near the Guerrero line past Puerto Escondido and the Bays of Huatulco to Salina Cruz.
Administratively the state is split into eight regions — Cañada, Costa, Istmo, Mixteca, Papaloapan, Sierra Norte, Sierra Sur and Valles Centrales — and into 570 municipalities, more than any other state and about a quarter of the national total. Sixteen indigenous peoples are recognised here, Zapotec and Mixtec being the largest; roughly a third of residents speak an indigenous language, the highest share in Mexico alongside Chiapas and Yucatán.
Main cities
Oaxaca has no large metropolis. The capital's municipality holds only 270,955 people and the built-up area, which spills into Xoxocotlán, Santa Lucía del Camino and San Antonio de la Cal, reaches about 700,000 — smaller than Tuxtla Gutiérrez's metro area next door. Population is instead spread across hundreds of settlements of a few thousand: the isthmus around Juchitán and Salina Cruz, the Papaloapan lowlands around Tuxtepec, and the Mixteca in the north-west, the region with the longest record of emigration to the United States of any part of Mexico.
| Municipality | Population (2020) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Oaxaca de Juárez | 270,955 | Capital; metro area about 700,000 |
| San Juan Bautista Tuxtepec | 159,000 | Papaloapan lowlands, sugar and paper |
| Juchitán de Zaragoza | 113,000 | Isthmus; wind-power belt |
| Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán | 100,000 | Adjoins the capital; state airport |
| Salina Cruz | 84,000 | Pacific oil port and refinery |
| Huajuapan de León | 78,000 | Mixteca regional centre |
| Santo Domingo Tehuantepec | 68,000 | Isthmus market town |
| San Pedro Mixtepec | 60,000 | Includes Puerto Escondido |
| Santa María Huatulco | 51,000 | Includes Huatulco and its nine bays |
Figures below are 2020 municipal populations from the INEGI census, so they cover the whole municipality rather than the town alone.
Neighbouring states
Oaxaca has four neighbours. Clockwise from the north-west: Puebla, Veracruz, Chiapas, Guerrero. The Veracruz border follows the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca and the Papaloapan; the Chiapas border crosses the isthmus east of Juchitán; the Guerrero border runs through the Costa Chica and the Mixteca. The Pacific forms the entire southern edge, and the state sits inside Southern Mexico and along the Pacific Coast.
Getting there
Oaxaca City's Xoxocotlán airport (OAX) is 8 km south of the centre and has domestic flights plus seasonal services from Houston and Dallas. The coast has two airports: Huatulco (HUX) and Puerto Escondido (PXM). By road, Highway 150D and then 135D run from Mexico City to Oaxaca City, 465 km in about six hours. Highway 190, the old Pan-American route, continues east across the isthmus into Chiapas; Highway 200 follows the coast from Guerrero to the Chiapas line; Highways 175 and 131 cross the Sierra Madre del Sur to the beaches. Because the terrain is steep, distances on the map understate driving times almost everywhere in the state: Oaxaca City to Huajuapan de León is 190 km but takes three hours, and the Sierra Norte villages north of the capital are two to four hours away on single-lane roads. Long-distance buses from Mexico City's TAPO terminal run to Oaxaca City through the day, and the coastal towns are linked to each other by Highway 200 rather than to the capital directly. See the airports map and the road map, and the archaeological sites map for Monte Albán and Mitla.
Questions about Oaxaca
Where is Oaxaca on the map of Mexico?
In the south of the country, on the Pacific, between Guerrero to the west and Chiapas to the east. Oaxaca City is 465 km south-east of Mexico City, about six hours by toll road.
Why does Oaxaca have 570 municipalities?
More than any other state, and about a quarter of all municipalities in Mexico. Most are small and follow the boundaries of individual indigenous communities; roughly 417 of them elect their authorities under usos y costumbres, customary law recognised by the state constitution rather than by party ballot.
How far is Oaxaca City from the coast?
About 250 km to Puerto Escondido and 275 km to Huatulco across the Sierra Madre del Sur. The Barranca Larga–Ventanilla highway, opened in 2024, cut the drive to roughly three hours; the older Highway 175 over the mountains takes six.
What is the best time to visit Oaxaca?
October to April is dry. The rains fall from June to September, and the coast has a hurricane season from May to November. Guelaguetza fills the city on the last two Mondays of July, and Day of the Dead falls on 1–2 November.