With a population of 29,680 in the Canada 2021 Census, it forms the second largest urban centre in Windsor-Essex County after Windsor, Ontario.

Besides the town of Leamington itself, the municipality of Leamington comprises a number of villages and hamlets, including Albuna, Blytheswood, Cherry Lane Estates, Elmdale, Goldsmith, Marentette Beach, Mount Carmel, Oakland, Seacliffe, Wigle, Windfall, Chalmers, Erie Curve, Hillman, Point Pelee and Sturgeon Woods.

[6][7] The community was named after Royal Leamington Spa in England, after having originally been called "Gainesville" or "Gainesborough"[8] for local mill owner William Gaines, and before that, Wilkinson Corners.

Leamington was a "sundown town," a place where Black people would face violence or harassment if they were in public after dark.

[11][12] In 1930, a group of Black parishioners on a visit to Seacliff Park were ordered to leave Leamington by several town administrators.

[13] David Suzuki attests that he was told, upon arrival in Leamington in 1946, that “no colored person has ever stayed here beyond sunset.”[14][15] Leamington was also one of the few Canadian municipalities included in the Negro Motorist Green Book, the American publication listing safe businesses for travelling black people.

In the early hours of June 6, 2010, an F1 tornado ripped through portions of southern Essex County, stretching from Harrow, through Kingsville, to southern Leamington before dissipating near Point Pelee National Park, creating considerable damage, but no loss of life or any direct injuries.

[17] Leamington lies on the 42nd Parallel, the same latitude as Chicago, Boston, the northern border of California, Rome, and Zaragoza.

A rail line that Heinz built from its plant to the harbour has been converted to a bicycle path going from the middle of town to the Marina.

Two ferries, (MV Jiiman and MV Pelee Islander II) owned by the Owen Sound Transportation Company, run on a regularly scheduled seasonal basis from Leamington to Pelee Island with continuing service on to Sandusky, Ohio.

[29] Major products of the greenhouse industry, in addition to tomatoes, are peppers, cannabis, cucumbers, roses, and other flowers.

Migrant workers, mostly Mexican and Caribbean seasonal labourers, annually arrive in the region to work in Leamington's greenhouses and farms.

Leamington became a production site of Aphria, one of Canada's largest medicinal and recreational marijuana greenhouse operators.

In mid-December 2016, the hospital formally submitted notice to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, it wished to change its name to Erie Shores Healthcare, and subsequently has been approved.

Prior to 1998, the Essex County Board of Education operated Anglophone secular public schools.

[citation needed] The region is also known for the migration of monarch butterflies, which congregate in the fall at Point Pelee before making their way across Lake Erie on their route to winter quarters in central Mexico.

Another important natural area near Leamington is the wetland at Hillman Marsh, located six kilometres (3.7 mi) east of the town.

[26] The town's water tower, visible for kilometres in the flat southern Ontario landscape, is in the shape and colour of a giant tomato.