[1][2] The name comes from Favorita, a semi-baroque palace complex that once served as a hunting castle but today is the Theresianum a Gymnasium (middle and high school) in the 4th district (Wieden).

On the western edge of the district are two contrasting developments, opposite each other: during the inter-war period, George Washington Court was built (as a stylish Gemeindebau); and during 1990-2000, Business Park Vienna was built, including Vienna Twin Towers (skyscrapers), bounded on the south, by the forty-years-older Philipshaus on Trieste Street, in the architecture of classical Modernism.

The Südbahn serves Favoriten in the north and Vienna Main Station, which lies in the northeast of the district.

The rail line forms the northern border of the district running by the foot of the Wienerberg (Vienna Mountain) before turning southwards past Laaer Berg (Laa Mountain) to Liesingtal (Liesing Valley), where the Lower Austrian towns of Hennersdorf, Leopoldsdorf and Schwechat are.

After World War II, Vienna was divided into quarters and split among the Allies, and Favoriten belonged to the Soviet-occupied sector.

In the Oberlaa/Rothneusiedl area there are several constructions named after well-known Swedish people, such as the Per-Albin-Hansson-Siedlung, the Olof Palme-Hof, and the Selma-Lagerlöf-Gasse.

Per Albin Hansson, the Swedish social-democratic politician, for instance lent a lot of support to Vienna after World War II.

The gender distribution in the district area was 47.7% men and 52.8% women, the number of Favoriten marriages had a share of 42.9% compared to 41.2%, above the average of Vienna.

Nearly 11.2% of residents were Islamic faith (Vienna citywide: 7.8%), 6.4% belonged to the Eastern Orthodox Church, and 4.1% were Protestant.

There are recreational areas in the southern part of the district, such as the Kurpark Laaer Berg (Treatment Park of Laa Mountain), which, in 1974, joined the Kurzentrum Oberlaa (Treatment Centre of Upper Laa), a sulphur springs, and the recreational centre at Wienerberg.

Favoriten is home to the stadium of one of the most successful Austrian Bundesliga teams FK Austria Wien, who play at the Generali Arena.

Commonly the SPÖ reached the absolute majority, which was only in danger after the rise of the FPÖ at the end of the eighties under Jörg Haider.