The Municipality of Cananea is one of the 72 municipalities that make up the Mexican state of Sonora. It is located in the north of the state, in the region of the Sierra Madre Occidental. It has 81 active localities within its territory, its municipal seat and most inhabited locality is the Heroic City of Cananea, the most important mining center in the north of the country, while other important locations are: Cuitaca, Ignacio Zaragoza, Emiliano Zapata, José María Morelos and Pavón and Vicente Guerrero. The municipality was decreed as such on October 31,1901, after being separated from Borders.
According to the intercensal survey of 2015 conducted by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography, the municipality has a total population of 35,892 inhabitants, and has an area of 2312.01 square kilometers. Its Gross Domestic Product per capita is USD 14,337 and its human development index is 0.8951, making it the municipality with the highest HDI. Like most of the municipalities of Sonora, the name was given by its municipal head.