It is located 84 kilometres (52mi) north of Tampere in the province of Western Finland, and is part of the Pirkanmaa region. The population of Parkano is 6,837 (June 30, 2015) and the municipality covers an area of 852.16km (329.02sqmi) of which 57.50km (22.20sqmi) is inland water (January 1, 2011). The population density is 8.02/km (20.8/sqmi).