Its municipal seat and main urban center is Sonoyta, on the United States border opposite Lukeville, Arizona.

The only other locality with a population of over 1,000 inhabitants is called Desierto de Sonora, just east-southeast of Sonoyta.

The south is part of the Gran Desierto de Altar, one of the driest and most inhospitable places in the Western Hemisphere.

Main crops are garden vegetables, alfalfa, beans, corn, cotton, and the production of fodder for the cattle industry, which is also important.

[1] Industry consists of plants transforming cotton and packing houses for vegetables.