Toledo is on the western end of Lake Erie. It is the county seat of Lucas County, and the principal city in the Toledo Metropolitan Statistical Area. In the 2000 census, the city proper had a population of 313,619. As of July 1, 2005, however, the U.S. Census Bureau listed the city with a reduced population of 301,285, allowing Toledo to maintain its place as the fourth-largest city in the state. Toledo is known as the Glass City because of its long history of innovation in all aspects of the glass industry: windows, bottles, windshields, construction materials, and glass art, of which the Toledo Museum of Art has a large collection. The Jeep vehicle has been manufactured in Toledo since 1941. Automotive glass supplier Libbey Owens Ford has long been a staple of Toledo's economy.

Toledo is located at 41°39′56″N, 83°34′31″W (41.665682, -83.575337). The city sits astride the Maumee River at the southern end of Maumee Bay, which is the westernmost inlet of Lake Erie. Toledo is north of what was formerly the Great Black Swamp, giving rise to another nickname, Frog Town. An important ecological site, a sandy oak savanna called the Oak Openings region, lies just west. As of the census of 2000, there were 313,619 people, 128,925 households, and 77,355 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,502.0/km² (3,890.2/mi²).