It is the head town of the Orán Department, and it has about 73,000 inhabitants as per the 2001 census [INDEC], which makes it the second-most populated in the province.

Orán is the seat of a Catholic diocese and a regional center of the Universidad Nacional de Salta.

Air traffic to the provincial capital is serviced by the Orán Airport (IATA: ORA, ICAO: SASO).

Having AFIP, ANES, Banco Nación, INTA, and a Federal Court, among other important offices, makes the city a point of reference to the entire Bermejo Region.

The city was founded on August 31, 1794, by the Spanish military man and governor of Salta, Ramón García de León y Pizarro, who named the settlement after Saint Raymond Nonnatus (on the saint's feast day) and his own birthplace, the city of Oran (in modern Algeria).