It is located between 21º33'49" and 21º44'00" latitude north and 103º09'07" and 103º32'01" longitude west with an average altitude of approximately 1700 meters above sea level.

The town and its inhabitants were originally put under the trusteeship or "encomienda" of Pedro de Bobadilla.

The trusteeship was then transferred to his mestizo son Francisco de Bobadilla and eventually was extinguished, as were many other similar trusteeships in the area due to ongoing uprisings of the local indigenous groups and the Chichimeca War.

In the early 17th century, the town was under the jurisdiccion of neighboring Tlaltenango and was primarily inhabited by indigenous people, though a few Spanish families had begun to settle in the area with the end of the Chichimeca War.

Mateo Correa Magallanes who was canonized by Pope John Paul II was born in Tepechitlán in 1866.