Its INSEE code is 343 and its capital city, and prefecture of the department, is Montpellier.

[4] The arrondissement covers the northeastern part of the department and is bordered to the north and northeast by the Gard department, to the east and south by the Gulf of Lion (Mediterranean Sea), to the southwest by the arrondissement of Béziers and to the west by the arrondissement of Lodève.

[5] In 2009 it lost the three cantons of Aniane, Ganges and Saint-Martin-de-Londres to the arrondissement of Lodève.

[7] As a result of the reorganisation of the cantons of France which came into effect in 2015, the borders of the cantons are no longer related to the borders of the arrondissements.

The cantons of the arrondissement of Montpellier were, as of January 2015:[8]