It is in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southwest Finland region. The municipality has a population of 53,805 (March 31, 2016) and covers an area of 1,986.54 square kilometres (767.01 sq mi) of which 181.78 km² (70.19 sq mi) is water. The population density is 27.09/km² (70.2/sq mi).

In Finnish salo means woodland, backwoods but also a wooded island. It is thought that Salo has meant the island that over thousand years ago existed to the south of the current town but is today (due to the post-glacial rebound typical in the area) a hill, not even very close to the sea.

Salo is located between the capital Helsinki and the provincial capital Turku, making it a busy small city. The short distance from these bigger cities keeps the Salo region and its business life growing. Farming also plays a considerable part in the area.

Once the town's main claim to notability, the consumer electronics and mobile phone industry, has during recent years been shut down.

Salo is the birthplace of the president of Finland Sauli Niinistö.

The municipality is unilingually Finnish.

Salo has existed as a centre of rural commerce since at least the 16th century, emerging in the location where the Great Coastal Road, the important East-West road, crossed River Salo; the river provided the fairway to the sea. In 1887 Salo officially became a market town and, in the beginning of 1891, an independent municipality. The area of the municipality was initially very small, only 0.65 km². In 1932 it grew to 18 km² when areas from neighbouring Uskela and Halikko were annexed to Salo. Eventually Salo became a town in 1960. The municipality of Uskela was consolidated with Salo 1967. The municipalities of Halikko, Kiikala, Kisko, Kuusjoki, Muurla, Perniö, Pertteli, Suomusjärvi and Särkisalo were consolidated with Salo in the beginning of 2009.

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