As of the 2020 census, its total population was 3,379,498 inhabitants of whom 1,226,617 lived in the Yuci and Taigu urban districts.

Jinzhong is divided into the following county-level subdivisions: Jinzhong has a continental, monsoon-influenced semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk),[4] with cold and very dry winters, and hot, humid summers.

The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −5.5 °C (22.1 °F) in January to 24.2 °C (75.6 °F) in July, and the annual mean is 10.39 °C (50.7 °F).

Typifying the influence of the East Asian Monsoon, over two-thirds of the annual 388 millimetres (15.3 in) of precipitation occurs from June to September.

Yuci District is increasingly connected to nearby Taiyuan, whose built-up area was home to 3,848,151 people in 2010.