Xiangtan County is located in the north of Hengshan Mountain, the west bank of the lower reaches of Xiangjiang River, the northern section of Changheng Hill Basin, between 27°20 '-28°05' north latitude and 112°25 '-113°03' east longitude. It is adjacent to Tianyuan District and Lukou District of Zhuzhou City in the east, Hengdong County, Hengshan County and Shuangfeng County in the south, Xiangxiang City and Shaoshan City in the west, and Xiangtan City in the north. The total area of the county is 2134 square kilometers. According to the seventh census, as of midnight on November 1, 2020, the permanent population of Xiangtan county was 792,829.

By 2020, Xiangtan County has jurisdiction over 14 towns and 3 townships, a total of 321 administrative villages, 9,156 villagers' groups, 12 neighborhood committees and 22 communities.

Xiangtan County has the reputation of "the pearl of Hunan". It is the hometown of Xianglian and the birthplace of Huxiang culture. The whole county belongs to the Changzhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration resource-saving and environment-friendly society (namely the national "two-oriented society") comprehensive reform pilot area, which is the forefront of Hunan's integration into the "pan-Pearl River Delta". In November 2018, it was listed on the "Top 100 Happy Counties of China 2018". In December 2018, it was selected as one of the top 100 counties in terms of economic investment potential. On December 13, 2018, it was selected into the list of advantage areas of agricultural products with Chinese characteristics. In June 2020, it was selected into the county new-type urbanization construction demonstration list.

In July 2020, Xiangtan County was named the 2017-2019 National Health County by the National Health Care Committee. In 2020, the GDP of Xiangtan County reached 50.1 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 3.7%