Together with the neighboring cities of Nuremberg, Fürth and Erlangen, Schwabach forms one of the three metropolitan areas in Bavaria.

The city is an autonomous administrative district (kreisfreie Stadt).

Schwabach is also the name of the river which runs through the city prior to joining the Rednitz.

This font was used for printing the first Bible in German, which had been worked out by Martin Luther.

The name derives from the old Franconian name Suapaha (later Suabaha, then Villa Suabach) which translates as "Schwaben-Bach" in modern German, which means "Swabian stream", the first part of the name was given by the Franconians who came to the area about a millennium after the Hallstatt culture to the people living on the banks of that stream, which were perceived as "Swabians" by them, while the second part of the name is a reference to the stream which flows through the city.