Toledo lies on Tañon Strait across from Negros Island and the city of San Carlos, Negros Occidental. Toledo City is home to the Philippines' largest copper mine, owned by Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corporation; concentrates from the mine are shipped from the port of Sangi near Toledo. Low-quality coal has also been mined in the area, but little coal is mined today. Important local crops include maize (corn) and coconuts. Toledo is connected to Cebu City, the provincial capital and second largest Philippine metropolitan area, by two stretches ofroad that crossing the rugged spine of the island: the Naga-Uling Road and the alternate Manipis Road. A ferry runs between San Carlos and Toledo. During harvest season, migrant sugar workers from Cebu Island travel from Toledo to San Carlos to work in the sugar fields of Negros.

A small seaport provides Toledo with commercial interIsland service. Like many Philippine chartered cities, the total area of the city (174 sq km/67 sq mi) includes a portion of farmland. Between 1980 and 1990 the population grew by 31 percent, more than the national growth rate of 26 percent. The city was chartered in 1960. Population (1995) 121,469.