Originally, when the first local government acts were implemented in Sweden in 1863, eight rural municipalities were created, each corresponding to an old parish.

Land elevation has reduced the number of islands and skerries to 140, the largest of which are Adelsö, Munsö, Ekerö, Färingsö, and Lovö.

Drottningholm, located on the Lovö island, was originally a Renaissance palace built by King John III for Queen Catherine Jagellon.

Queen Dowager Hedvig Eleonora had a new palace erected out of the preserved walls and cellar vaults from King John III:s palace in the French Baroque style to the design of architect Nicodemus Tessin the Elder, a work later completed by Nicodemus Tessin the Younger, Carl Hårleman, and Jean Eric Rehn.

The palace features several uniquely preserved structures, including the Palace Theatre, inaugurated in 1766 and still delivering operas using the preserved original machinery; and the Chinese Pavilion, the Rococo design of Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz filled with Chinese luxury delivered by the Swedish East India Company.

[3] Birka on the Björkö island is the oldest urban structure in Sweden, founded in the mid eighth century.

On the Adelsö Island is Hovgården, together with Birka a world heritage site, featuring barrows, thick walls, and runestones.

[3] Next to this Crown palace is the residential area Drottningholmsmalmen ("Drottningholm Ridge/Esker") which draws its history back to the Torvesund manor built in 1579-80 and which served as a place of refuge for the Jesuits following the Reformation.

During the reign of King Gustav III had several buildings erected, including the Långa raden (the "Long Row") to accommodate the royal life guard.

In the middle of the 20th century, several buildings by well-known Swedish architects, including Nils Tesch, Ralph Erskine, Peter Celsing and Bengt Lindroos, were added.

[4] Kanton is a group of twenty buildings next to the Chinese Pavilion built in the 1750s and 1760s, intended to be a mercantile prototype settlement.

70-80 people lived there for a few decades producing luxury items for the royal court and the nobility, including some of the interior of the China Pavillin.

The rococo palace, built 1735–1739 to the design of Carl Hårleman and later expanded by Queen Louisa Ulrika, was neglected for centuries before being restored.

The excavations that followed unveiled eight groups of buildings and objects from Ireland, Egypt, and India dating back to the eighth century offering a hint of the extent of the trade of the era.

[8] The Barrow of Björn Ironside on Munsö Island is part of the Iron Age grave field Munsö-Husby.

The population in Ekerö Municipality has the seventh highest median income per capita in Sweden,[11] although the share of highly educated persons, according to Statistics Sweden's definition: persons with post-secondary education that is three years or longer, is 31.3% and slightly over the national average, 27.0%.