The city is located approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) east of the Mediterranean coastline, south of Kfar Saba, southeast of Ra'anana, and northeast of Ramat HaSharon.

[3] The land area of Hod HaSharon is 19.2 square kilometres (7.4 sq mi),[4] and according to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), in 2022 the city had a population of 65,614.

According to the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), the size of the press suggested it was meant for commercial production, rather than local or personal use.

"[6] Before the 20th century, the area of Hod HaSharon formed part of the Forest of Sharon, a hallmark of the region's historical landscape; the landscape was an open woodland, dominated by sections of Mount Tabor oak (Quercus ithaburensis), extending from Kfar Yona in the north to Ra'anana in the south.

The intensification of settlement and agriculture on the coastal plain during the 19th century led to deforestation and subsequent environmental degradation, known from Hebrew sources.

[9] Magdiel was established as a moshava, starting on 4,000 dunams of land purchased near the Arab village of Biyar 'Adas.

The initial population included Jewish immigrants from Russia, Poland and Lithuania, later joined by a group from the Netherlands.

[8] Hadar was established in 1927 by Yael Leah Eichhorn, a middle-class immigrant from Eastern Europe, who was joined soon thereafter by a group of Italian Jews.

[11] In the early 1940s, Yemenite immigrants moved to Hadar, establishing the Shikun Hateymanim quarter, today part of the Gannei Tzvi neighborhood.

[3] In April 1956, the boundaries of Hadar Ramatayim were extended to include the ma'abara of Ganei Tzvi, established in the end of 1948 Arab–Israeli War as Kfar Nitzahon, and renamed earlier in 1956 after Lord Harry (Tzvi) Morris of Kenwood, a major donor of the Jewish National Fund.

[12][13] Ramat Hadar was established in December 1938 by middle-class immigrants fleeing from Nazi Germany, members of the Fifth Aliyah.

The city is served by two railway stations, Hod HaSharon Sokolov and Kfar Sava Nordau at its north border, right next to Highway 531.