The city is known locally as "Little Edo" (小江戸, Koedo) after the old name for Tokyo, due to its many historic buildings.

Located in the Musashino Terrace of central Saitama Prefecture, both the Arakawa and the Iruma Rivers flow through the city, which is approximately 30 kilometers from downtown Tokyo.

Saitama Prefecture Kawagoe has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall.

The town of Kawagoe was created within Iruma District, Saitama with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889.

A large part of the town was destroyed in a fire on May 13, 1893 and was rebuilt with many structures using construction techniques of traditional kura warehouses.

On December 1, 1922 Kawagoe merged with neighboring Senba Village, and was elevated to city status, with a population of 30,359.

The city expanded in 1955 by annexing the villages of Yoshino, Furuya, Minamifuruya, Takashina, Fukuhara, Daito, Kasumigaseki, Naguwashi and Yamada.

Kawagoe has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 36 members.

In terms of national politics, the city is part of Saitama 7th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.