It is located in the center of the province, west of Jagüey Grande and east of Unión de Reyes.

Pedro Betancourt's name comes from a famous Spanish-Cuban patriot, Pedro Estanislao Betancourt Dávalos, who was one of the Major-General in the independence war, waged by the Cuban natives against the Spanish Crown.

The municipality was historically divided into the barrios of Cabecera Norte, Cabecera Sur (both constituting the town), Ciego, Linche, Navajas, Platanal, Punta Brava, Torriente and Tramojos.

[1] Nowadays it counts the town itself and 7 popular councils (consejos populares, i.e. villages): The main town of Betancourt and the villages of Bolondrón, Camilo, Güira de Macurijes, Manolito, Navajas and Pedroso-Socorro.

[citation needed] In 2022, the municipality of Pedro Betancourt had a population of 29,565.