The town lies on the main highway linking Freetown to Guinea's capital Conakry.

[2] The population of Port Loko is diverse, though the Temne is the largest ethnic group.

Port Loko lies on the Bankasoka River estuary, at about the limit of tidal effects.

[7][8] The population of Port Loko is ethnically diverse, although the Temne ethnic group predominate, and the Temne language is widely spoken among the people of Port Loko, along with Krio, the national language of Sierra Leone.

Port Loko has a football club named the Bai Bureh Warriors.