From the incorporation of Madison Heights in 1955 to 2004, the township consisted of two small non-contiguous parts within Oakland County.

The larger portion lies along Eight Mile Road, adjacent to the cities of Detroit, Oak Park, and Ferndale.

A second portion, located to the northwest and bordering Oak Park and Southfield, was the subject of a series of annexations and conditional land transfers in 2003 & 2004[6][7] Two property-initiated annexation elections in 2003 consisted of Crown Pointe Plaza office complex, Lincoln Towers Apartments, Biarritz Club/Rue Versailles Apartments, in which the township was estimated to have lost 20% of its property tax value to Oak Park.

[6] The property owners cited lower taxes in the city of Oak Park and poor relations with the township's government as reasons for seeking annexation.

[6] Lawsuits were filed by the township seeking to overturn these annexations; to make the transfer of the territory to the city more amicable and to end litigiation, Oak Park initiated talks with the township on a 425 Agreement in September 2004, which allows the transfer of territory conditioned on the sharing of taxes generated from the transferred territory.

It came into effect on November 1, 2004, the day preceding the election to annex Bridgewater Village and Lincoln Woods Apartments, fully completing the transfer of the northwest part of the township to Oak Park, and ending litigation from the township against the city.

[10][11] Oak Park amended the 425 Agreement on January 16, 2006, to bring in Bridgewater Village Apartments after resolving litigiation with the property owner concerning taxes and the associated costs of annexation.

[12] According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 0.55 square miles (1.42 km2), all land.

[16] The Clinton School District previously served Royal Oak Township.

WDTK, WLQV, WCSX, WMGC, and WRIF are all based out of Radio Plaza in Royal Oak Township.