It belonged to West (서면, seo-myeon) and South townships (남면, nam-myeon) of original Siheung County.

[citation needed] In 1995, the Seoul-Gwangmyeong boundary was readjusted, in which a tiny part of Cheolsan-dong was merged into the newly created Geumcheon District, Seoul.

Due to its history of being part of the urban planning districts of Seoul until December 1982, the living sphere of Gwangmyeong is similar to Seoul's Yeongdeungpo (서울 영등포 생활권 seo-ul yeong-deung-po saeng-hwal-kwon) rather than 'Western Gyeonggi's living sphere' (경기 서부 생활권 gyeong-gi seo-bu-saeng-hwal-kwon) such as Bucheon and Anyang.

The sewage system is linked to Seoul, though the nearest sewage treatment plant is located on the boundary between Gwangmyeong and Anyang, and the city heavily relies on Seoul's telephone and transport systems (local dial code.

Gwangmyeong not belonging to Seoul, Gwangmyeong residents have to go to a district court office and a reserve soldier's drill camp (of the 51st Infantry Division, Capital Corps) in 'farther' Ansan other than a district court in nearby Sinjeong-dong and a reserve soldier's drill camp (of the 52nd Infantry Division, CDC) in Anyang.

Opponents insist that the annexation would tarnish municipal autonomy in Gwangmyeong and it would also worsen balanced development of non-capital areas on the national level.

Modern shopping malls are in Cheolsan Station, Haan crossroads, and Soha-dong (E-mart and Costco).

One is Korea University Medical Center at Guro (구로고대병원 gu-ro-go-dae-byeong-weon) that is located in nearby Guro-dong, Seoul and other one is Chung-ang University Hospital at Gwangmyeong (중앙대학교광명병원 joong-ahng-dae-hak-gyo-gwang-myeong-byeong-weon) that is located near Gwangmyeong station[6] A public medical centre is in southernmost Haan-dong.

As of 1999 (provisional)/2004 (permanent), Gwangmyeong's taxi business district was consolidated to Guro and Geumcheon, Seoul.

The tombs of Yi Sun-sin (not to be confused with the more famous admiral of the same name)[8] and Lee Won-ik[9] are in the city, just north of Gwangmyeong Station.

The city is also home to the Gwangmyeong Velodrome, the largest domed structure in South Korea.