The west side of the Kaname River is a hilly area that is part of the Oiso Hills, and there is a lot of greenery.

Kanagawa Prefecture Hiratsuka has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall.

Hiratsuka was retained as tenryō territory after the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, and flourished as Hiratsuka-juku, a post town on the Tōkaidō connecting Edo with Kyoto.

After the Meiji Restoration, Hiratsuka town was founded on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the municipalities system, as part of the new Naka District within Kanagawa Prefecture.

Due to its strategic location and wide beaches, it was also one of the targets for the planned invasion of Japan during the final stages of World War II.

Hiratsuka has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 26 members.

In terms of national politics, the city is part of Kanagawa 15th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Major plants are operated by Nissan Shatai, Yokohama Rubber Company, Canon, Furukawa Electric, Pilot – the famous Namiki pens are produced at Hiratsuka, Kansai Paint, and Mitsubishi Plastics.