It is located in the region of western Minas Gerais known as Triângulo Mineiro at an elevation of 453 meters.
It is bounded in the south, at the border with the state of São Paulo, by a large artificial lake and the river Rio Grande, created by the Água Vermelha Dam.
Politically, in last 100 years, the Iturama region was dominated by rich farmers' families who received their lands from the King of Portugal.
Lands belonging to the Kayapós was dominated by Portuguese Empire explorers and distributed to them and their partners, called Bandeirantes.
Iturama is in the top tier of municipalities in the state with regard to economic and social development.
The crops with a planted area of more than 100 hectares were peanuts, rice, sugarcane, corn, and soybeans.
[4] The highest ranking municipality in Minas Gerais in 2000 was Poços de Caldas with 0.841, while the lowest was Setubinha with 0.568.