Coal remains a key sector in the city's economy, with mining continuing to be a significant contributor to its industrial base.

The city hosts several educational institutions, such as Karaganda State University, which support its role as an academic and research center in central Kazakhstan.

Karaganda’s infrastructure and economy have been evolving, with modernization efforts in various sectors, including transportation, healthcare, and housing.

Today, it stands as a key city in Kazakhstan, contributing to the country’s economy while maintaining its historical and cultural heritage.

[3][4]: 30  By the late 19th century, the local mines had attracted workers from nearby villages, Russian merchants, and entrepreneurs from France and England.

[4]: 25  Planners set out to create a dozen coal mines, and drafted blueprints for a city to house an estimated 40,000 workers.

[citation needed] Initially, Karaganda suffered from an inadequate amount of supplies, and living conditions in the settlement were often poor.

[3] During the Stalinist purges, peoples from many different nationalities, including Germans, Karachais, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush, Greeks, and Crimean Tatars were sent to Karlag.

[citation needed] The population of Karaganda fell by 14% from 1989 to 1999 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union; it was once Kazakhstan's second-largest city after Almaty.

[citation needed] Robert F. Kennedy (later US Attorney General and US Senator), alongside US Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, visited "five Soviet Central Asian Republics": Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tadzhikistan, Kirghizia, and Kazakhstan.

[citation needed] Prompt gamma ray-produced EMP induced a current of 2,500 amps measured by spark gaps in a 570 km (350 mi) stretch of overhead telephone line to Zharyq, blowing all the protective fuses.

[citation needed] The late-time MHD-EMP was of low enough frequency to enable it to penetrate 90 cm (35 in) into the ground, overloading a shallow buried lead and steel tape-protected 1,000 km (620 mi) long power cable between Aqmola (now called Astana) and Almaty.

[citation needed] Kuznetsov's master plan for the city was intended to accommodate 300,000 inhabitants, which was surpassed by the late 1960s.

[3] In the early 1990s, Karaganda was briefly considered as a candidate for the capital of the (then) newly independent Republic of Kazakhstan, but its bid was turned down in favour of Astana.

[citation needed] In July 2019, remains of a young couple buried face to face dated 4,000 years back were unearthed in Karaganda region in central Kazakhstan by a group of archaeologists led by Igor Kukushkin from Saryarka Archaeological Institute in Karaganda.

Kukushkin supposes that they were from a 'noble family' thanks to the buried gold and jewelry artifacts, ceramic pots, woman's two bracelets on each arm beads, remains of horses and knives found in the grave.

The Bugyly Range (Бұғылы), reaching a height of 1,187 m (3,894 ft), rises about 60 km (37 mi) to the south of the city.

[12] Due to the prominence of heavy industry in Karaganda, the city experiences a high level of air pollution.

[22] The labor camp described in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich where the author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn had served some time was located near Karaganda.