Resource industries found in rural areas of the municipality include agriculture, fishing, mining, forestry, and natural gas extraction.

To guard against Mi'kmaq, Acadian and French attacks on the new Protestant settlements, British fortifications were erected in Halifax (Citadel Hill) (1749), Bedford (Fort Sackville) (1749), Dartmouth (1750), and Lawrencetown (1754), all areas within the modern-day Regional Municipality.

[14][15][16] Halifax has a oceanic climate (Köppen Dfb), with warm summers and relatively mild winters, which is due to Gulf Stream moderation.

The weather is usually milder in the winter or cooler in the summer than areas at similar latitudes inland, with the temperature remaining (with occasional notable exceptions) between about −8 and 28 °C (18 and 82 °F).

In 2022, Hurricane Fiona hit as a category 2 storm, although damage was relatively minor in Halifax, with downed trees and widespread power outages for days.

[19] Atlantic sea surface temperatures have risen in recent years, making Halifax and the coast of Nova Scotia somewhat more susceptible to hurricanes than the area had been in the past.

The municipality's topography spans from lush farmland in the Musquodoboit Valley to rocky and heavily forested rolling hills.

Farther away, rural communities in the municipality function like any resource-based area in Nova Scotia, being sparsely populated and their local economies based on four major resource industries: agriculture, in the Musquodoboit Valley, fishing, along the coast, mining, in the Musquodoboit Valley[53] and in Moose River Gold Mines[54] and forestry, in most areas outside the urban core.

The municipality's urban core also benefits from a large population of post-secondary students who strongly influence the local cultural scene.

Eastern Front Theatre performs at Alderney Landing in Downtown Dartmouth which can easily be accessed via the Halifax Transit ferry service.

Halifax has also become a significant film production centre, with many American and Canadian filmmakers using the streetscapes, often to stand in for other cities that are more expensive to work in.

[63] The new Halifax Central Library on Spring Garden Road has received accolades for its architecture and has been described as a new cultural locus, offering many community facilities including a 300-seat auditorium.

The square hosts the City Hall at one end, and is a popular site for concerts, political demonstrations, as well as the annual Remembrance Day ceremony at the central cenotaph.

Another popular downtown public space is the timber Halifax Boardwalk, which stretches approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) and is integrated with several squares and monuments.

Long Lake Provincial Park, comprising more than 2,000 hectares, was designated in 1984 and affords Halifax residents access to a scenic wilderness in close proximity to the urban communities.

In summertime the preserved World War II corvette HMCS Sackville operates as a museum ship and Canada's naval memorial.

The nightlife is made up of bars and small music venues as well as Casino Nova Scotia, a large facility built partially over the water.

The Halifax Crescents, an amateur and later, professional ice hockey team challenged for the Stanley Cup in 1900 but lost to the Montreal Shamrocks.

[87] Huskies Stadium was used on June 11, 2005, and again on July 29, 2023, to host an exhibition game of the Canadian Football League called Touchdown Atlantic.

The urban area of Halifax is a major economic centre in eastern Canada with a large concentration of government services and private sector companies.

[105] Major employers and economic generators include the Department of National Defence, the Port of Halifax, Irving Shipbuilding, the Nova Scotia Health Authority, IMP Group, Bell Aliant, Emera, the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, government, banks, and universities.

[106] The municipality has a growing concentration of manufacturing industries and is becoming a major multi-modal transportation hub through growth at the port, the Halifax Stanfield International Airport, and improving rail and highway connections.

[107] A real estate boom in recent years has led to numerous new property developments, including the gentrification of some former working-class areas.

[105] Agriculture, fishing, mining, forestry and natural gas extraction are major resource industries found in the rural areas of the municipality.

Other resource industries in Halifax include the natural gas fields off the coast of Sable Island, as well as clay, gold, gypsum, limestone, and shale extraction in rural areas of the mainland portion of the municipality.

[112] The legislature meets in Province House, a nearly 200-year-old National Historic Site in downtown Halifax hailed as one of the finest examples of Palladian architecture in North America.

[117] The urban core is linked by the Angus L. Macdonald and A. Murray MacKay suspension bridges, as well as the network of 100-series highways which function as expressways.

The Armdale traffic circle is an infamous choke point for vehicle movement in the western part of the urban core, especially at rush hour.

The city has been adding dedicated and part-time bus lanes along some major road corridors in order to improve the reliability of the system and reduce delays.

The Halifax Port Authority's various shipping terminals constitute the eastern terminus of Canadian National Railway's transcontinental network.