It has about 8,000 inhabitants as per the 2001 census [INDEC], and is the head town of the department of the same name.

It is located on the so-called Central Corridor of Patagonia, in a fertile valley amidst an otherwise arid region, 140 km west from Comodoro Rivadavia, in the south of Chubut.

Notable attractions are the Petrified Forest and caves with Aborigine hand paintings.

It was situated next to "Las Tres Casas" where the Jones families from Wales and the Briton Pryce lived.

The descendants of these colonists make up a large portion of the population of Sarmiento and still speak Afrikaans and attend the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk ("Dutch Reformed Church") to this day.