As of 2020[update] the population was 6,386 in a total area of 277 square kilometres (107 sq mi).
Santa Helena de Minas is part of the statistical microregion of Nanuque.
The main economic activities are cattle raising (7,000 head in 2006) and farming with modest production of bananas, coffee, and corn.
The above figures can be compared with those of Poços de Caldas, which had an MHDI of .841, the highest in the state of Minas Gerais.
More up-to-date data from 2004 show that the lowest in that year was Manari in the state of Pernambuco with an MHDI of .467 out of a total of 5504 municipalities in the country as of 2004.