The commune of Pelluhue has an area of 371.4 km2 (143 sq mi)[2] and is bordered on the north by Chanco, on the south by Cobquecura (Ñuble Region), on the east by Cauquenes and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.

The town's population swells to over several thousand in the summer week-ends when vacationers from the hinterland (Cauquenes, Linares, Talca, Parral) visit the seaside.

As a commune, Pelluhue is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a municipal council, headed by an alcalde who is directly elected every four years.

The commune is represented in the Senate by Hernán Larraín (UDI) and Ximena Rincón González (PDC) as part of the 11th senatorial constituency (Maule-South).

On February 27, 2010, Pelluhue and Curanipe were partially destroyed by an earthquake measuring 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale, and its associated tsunami[5][6] that left 60 ft fishing vessels in the streets, the towns "covered in mud" and hundreds of homes "completely gone", as reported by the press.