It lies roughly 23 km east of Munich on the northern edge of the Upper Bavarian district of Ebersberg.

North of the railway tracks lie the Burgerfeld new town with its theatre hall, more housing estates and several commercial-industrial areas.

The castle with the town hall, the marketplace and St. Margaret's Church are downtown, and the school centre somewhat southwest of there.

In 1409, Duke Stephan III of Bavaria-Ingolstadt granted the town the arms of the former County of Falkenberg, which had fallen back to the Dukes of the Wittelsbachers as liege lords about 1272 after the Counts of Falkenberg had died out, thus making their arms "free" to be given out again as the new owners deemed fit.

Through this and village status the town blossomed further and eventually boasted a state court seat – at the Electoral palace.

In 1811, the court was moved to Ebersberg, leaving the town to suffer for a long time under the threat of sinking into insignificance.

After the Second World War came a great inflow of Germans driven from their lands in the east, some of whom settled in Markt Schwaben.

Many streets were named after these industrious citizens, such as Weißgerberweg ("Tawer Way"), Kupferschmiedberg ("Coppersmith Hill") and Nagelschmiedgasse ("Nailsmith Lane").

Under the Bavarian government led by Wilhelm Hoegner, a number of market towns were raised to city status, among them Grafing and Ebersberg but the word "Markt" in the town's name at that time thwarted the community's efforts to be raised to city status.

In the 1960s, as everywhere else in the Munich suburban area, a building boom happened in Markt Schwaben, leading to two highrise developments in the town (von-Kobell-Straße and Dr. Hartlaubring).

Connection to the Munich local transport network (MVV) for the Olympics in 1972 afforded the town something of a boom, as there now was a quick route into the city in addition to the regional service.

In 1992 and 1993, the Sportpark with the bathing pond was built in the southeast of the town as an addition to and partial replacement for the older sports area close to the schools.

The country couple Hundseder endowed a complete new set of bronze bells in 1911, poured at the bellworks in Erding with the "Salve Regina" motif in the arrangement D - F# - A - B.

In 1948 the parish church received a substitute set of bells poured from steel in Bochum, with the same tonal arrangement as the old ones, which is still in use today.

In 1975 came yet another, quite extravagant, restoration, whereby the church's south side, facing Erdinger Straße, had to be deeply underpinned owing to the vibration from traffic.

As of 2015 a further expensive restoration is expected as the stuccoed vault is showing threatening cracks apparently caused by bell vibrations.

In the morning rush hour, the S-Bahn runs express trains at 20-minute intervals that between Markt Schwaben and the East Railway Station only stop at Riem.

In 2006 the scientific department of the Zolltechnischen Prüfungs- und Lehranstalt (ZPLA – Customs-Technical Examination and Teaching Institution) was established in Markt Schwaben.

Another very active theatre group is the Junge Bühne Markt Schwaben ("Young Stage"), which has its origins in the Theater im Burgerfeld.

Here, among other things, are a great event hall and space for Markt Schwaben's lively club life.

Guests at these dialogues between high-profile personalities, held several times a year since 1994, have included among others Johannes Rau, Joschka Fischer, Rita Süßmuth, Kurt Beck, Gerhard Polt, Alois Glück, Gesine Schwan, former Polish prime minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Abbot Primate Notker Wolf and Turkish Family Minister Güldal Aksit.

Every year, storks breed in Markt Schwaben on the old schoolhouse's roof next to the Hauptschule on Gerstlacher Weg.

The great birds can often be seen standing on roofs, flying over the town or seeking food on the River Hennigbach.