The Duke also granted Karlstad the right as a governmental seat in the region, and gave it a substantial amount of land.

During the night of 7 March 1809, major general Georg Adlersparre used the part of the western army that was stationed in Värmland to occupy Karlstad.

[10] Several upper secondary schools (gymnasium) offer the most common range of courses usually available throughout Sweden, including the IB Diploma Programme.

The majority of students in Värmland need to commute or move to Karlstad for their upper secondary education.

The 2010 Men's World Inline Hockey Championships was also hosted by Karlstad, with Löfbergs Arena as the primary site of the tournament.

Traditionally, bandy has been the most popular winter sport in Karlstad, and the city is the home of two of the historically most successful clubs in Sweden, IF Boltic and IF Karlstad-Göta.

The home arena of Boltic, Tingvalla Ice Stadium, built in 1967, was claimed to be one of Northern Europe's largest artificially frozen areas.

Karlstad is a regular host of start, finish and special stages for the Swedish Rally.

[15] Their home ground is Tingvalla IP, and the facility was also the home ground for the football team Karlstad BK, that played in the men's Division 1 Norra (3rd highest level), having gained promotion following a successful 2010 season.

The club was accepted by the Swedish Football Association (SvFF) in 1999[16] and the team played in the men's Division 2 Norra Götaland (4th highest level).

Motorcycle speedway takes place at the Kalvholmen Motorbana, situated in the southeast outskirts of the city.

The Carlstad Crusaders play in Superserien, the highest level and since the founding of the club in 1990, the team has attended eight finals, winning its first championship in 2010.

In 2023, Karlstads BVP per capita was 623 thousand Swedish crowns, about 20% above the national average at the time.

[18] Karlstad has a relatively strong IT sector and a number of IT consulting companies – CombinedX, Sogeti, CGI Inc., Tieto.

Karlstad has a humid continental climate (Dfb) with influence from the surrounding waters of Vänern and the inflow from the Atlantic Ocean.