Benito Juárez is located in the north of the state with the Caribbean Sea as its eastern border.

It borders on the municipalities of Isla Mujeres to the north, Puerto Morelos to the south, and Lázaro Cárdenas to the west.

The municipality covers an area 1,664 square kilometres (642 sq mi) which is 3.72% of the territory of the state.

At the time the town of Cancún was founded (1902) the majority of its business activity was the production and export gum and "palo de tinte".

At the time Benito Juarez was founded, it was part the Isla Mujeres territory and received municipality status one year later in 1975.