Raalte is the main place of the municipality, with over 20,000 mostly Roman Catholic inhabitants.

An important road for motorists is the N348 Deventer – Wesepe (mun.

Olst-Wijhe – Raalte – Lemelerveld – Ommen ( in northeasterly direction from Deventer).

Raalte has a lot of small industrial enterprises, many of them processing agricultural products.

For the local economy, trade, agriculture (especially breeding cattle) and tourism are more important.