In pre-Hispanic times the region of present day Tarímbaro was inhabited by the semi-nomadic Chichimeca (who knew the area "place of the willows") and the P'urhépecha people of Central Mexico.
This town limits with the state of Guanajuato to the north, with Querendaro and Indaparapeo to the east, with Charo to the south, with Tarimbaro to the west and with Cuitzeo to the northwest.