Hyvinkää is part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, which has approximately 1.61 million inhabitants.

Hyvinkää is located approximately 50 kilometres (30 mi) north of the capital Helsinki.

The municipality shares borders with Riihimäki and Hausjärvi to the north, Mäntsälä to the east, Tuusula and Nurmijärvi to the south, and Vihti and Loppi to the west.

Hyvinkää is home to several well-known buildings, including the 1961 church and the Kytäjä manor house.

In the 16th century there was a tavern in the area now known as Hyvinkäänkylä (literally "the village of Hyvinkää"), which lies approximately halfway between Helsinki and Hämeenlinna.

Hyvinkää village gradually grew in the latter half of the 19th century, though it was the construction of the railway network through Finland, beginning in 1861, that marked the starting point for the town's rapid growth.

In the early 20th century, the station village in Hyvinkää was an intermediate stopping point for many emigrants leaving by ship from Hanko for a new life in North America.

The air quality of Hyvinkää was considered healthy due to dense pine forests, and in the 1880s a group of physicians from Helsinki opened a sanatorium for patients seeking rest and recuperation.

Industrialization brought a wool factory to Hyvinkää in 1892 – the Donner family's Hyvinge Yllespinneri.

It became home to many Finnish Karelian refugees after Karelia was handed out to Soviet Union by the Moscow Peace Treaty.

[8] As English and Swedish are compulsory school subjects, functional bilingualism or trilingualism acquired through language studies is not uncommon.

Hyvinkää is an important railway city, located on the primary rail route in southern Finland.

Passenger traffic between Hyvinkää and Karis ended in September 1983, but the railway is still in use by VR Cargo.

Hyvinkää Falcons plays american football in nation's second level in both men's and women's league system.

[16] In the Summer, there is an annual beer festival which attracts rock bands from Scandinavia and about 10,000 visitors.

Hyvinkää is twinned with:[17] The educational department takes part in Lifelong Learning Programme 2007–2013 in Finland.