According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 230,998 inhabitants,[3] making it the second most-populous city in the province of Leyte after the provincial capital of Tacloban.

Ormoc is an independent component city, not subject to regulation from the Provincial Government of Leyte.

On November 8, 2013, the city was extensively damaged by Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), having previously suffered severe destruction and loss of life in 1991 from torrential flooding during Tropical Storm Thelma (Uring).

[7] This place was used during the Spanish occupation and the migration of the neighboring towns to settle in the more fertile plains of Ormoc.

The city government recorded 4,922 deaths, 3,000 missing persons, 14,000 destroyed houses and more than P600 million worth of damaged property.

[13] Heavy rainfall caused water to collect upstream the Anilao and Malbasag rivers until it poured to the lowlands in Ormoc, particularly District 26, also known as Isla Verde.

[13] On November 5, 2011, a monument by national artist Francis Cinco commemorating the 20th anniversary of the event was inaugurated.

[15] It sits on top of the mass grave at the Ormoc City Public Cemetery where an estimated 4,900 victims are buried.

[13][15] On November 7, 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded, made a landfall in the Philippines.

While it killed far fewer people as Tropical Storm Uring, it left widespread devastation to the city with destruction and damages in 90% of its structures.

[17] On January 19, 2021, the City Council enacted Ordinance 52 Series of 2021 to merge the numbered barangays (all in Poblacion) and renaming them: The ordinance require a plebiscite and the determination of an affirmation will be based on the majority vote of the proposed administrative subdivision and not a majority vote per barangay.

[18][19][20][21][22] The plebiscite was held at the Ormoc City Central School, with 35 polling precincts, wherein 10,209 registered voters from 29 barangays were expected to participate.

The natives of this city are called Ormocanons, with most being Cebuano speakers, as with the whole western and southern parts of the island of Leyte.

Other main Catholic holy days, including the local fiestas of barangays, are observed throughout the year.

Ormoc is also the gateway to the Leyte Industrial Development Estate in the nearby town of Isabel, home of the Philippine Phosphate Fertilizer Plant, the largest fertilizer factory in Asia, and the Philippine Associated Smelter and Refining Company, the country's biggest copper processing plant, among other industries.