Its mayor is Anders Wolf Andresen, a member of the Green Left (Socialistisk Folkeparti) political party.
The southernmost section of the municipality, known as Avedøre Holme, juts out into Køge Bay and forms part of the entryway into Kalveboderne, the waters of which separate the island of Zealand from neighboring Amager.
In 1841, it was merged with Frederiksberg under the name Hvidovre–Frederiksberg Sognekommune (civil parish of Hvidovre–Frederiksberg) but the two were again split in 1858 and Valby and Vigerslev were transferred to Copenhagen in 1901.
Film production camp Filmbyen (founded by Lars von Trier and Peter Aalbæk Jensen's company Zentropa) is located in Hvidovre.
The longest office building in Denmark, Copenhagen Business Park, is located in the municipality at the address Stamholmen 143–161.
As one of the largest office buildings in Denmark it consists of 67,000 square meters (slightly over 721,000 sq feet) rented space.