Situated northeast of Ho Chi Minh City (also known as Saigon), Biên Hòa is connected to it via National Route 1.

Following the First Indochina War, tens of thousands of refugees from the northern and central regions of Vietnam—a large portion of whom were Roman Catholics—resettled in Biên Hòa as part of Operation Passage to Freedom.

[citation needed] Like much of Vietnam, post-war Biên Hòa suffered a period of severe economic decline between 1975 and the second half of the 1980s.

Many factories and warehouses (often funded in collaboration with Japanese, Singaporean, American, Swiss and other foreign investors) operate in the areas surrounding the city.

With regard to entertainment, the city includes several amusement parks, nightclubs and restaurants lining the Đồng Nai River.

[12] The Vietnamese American Foundation, also known as The Returning Casualty, is working to restore the cemetery and excavate a nearby mass grave of approximately 200 ARVN soldiers.

There are six industrial zones: Sanyang Motor's Vietnam Manufacturing & Export Processing Co., Ltd. (VMEP) is located in Biên Hòa.