Located in the Metekel Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Debre Zeit has a latitude and longitude of 10°35′N 35°48′E / 10.583°N 35.800°E / 10.583; 35.800 with an elevation of 2097 meters above sea level.

The town was visited in 1900 by the American traveller Oscar T. Crosby, who mentions the presence of a market and an Ethiopian military outpost.

He described the settlement as "a large village of a few hundred houses and is important chiefly for its market and as a centre for caravan traffic.

One set of merchants plies between there and Roseires in the Sudan, and another goes to the Abyssinian main plateau; both carry the famous coffee grown at Kitar in the Wanbera district.

"[2] Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Debre Zeyit has an estimated total population of 4,179 of whom 1,936 were males and 2,243 were females.