The Town has grown around Arunachaleswarar Temple as the nucleus. The temple is located at the foot of Tiruvannamalai Hill a lofty one which is part of Eastern ghats. Naturally this hill has been a physical barrier for the growth of the town on the west side. In the other directions, the land is undulating with irrigation tanks strewn all over. The topography of the town is mostly plain having gentle slope from west towards east.

     Tiruvannamalai town is situated at 200 m above Mean Sea Level and thus it has a dry and hot climate. The seasons are generally classified as follows:
a) Cold season from November to January with a mean temperature of 270C maximum and 180C minimum
b) Warm season from February to March and July to October with a mean temperature of 340C maximum and 210C minimum
c) Hot season from April to June with a mean temperature of 37.40C maximum and 250C minimum
The mean maximum temperature during summer is 38.30C occurs in May.
The mean minimum temperature during winter is 15.10C occurs in December & January.

The humidity in summer ranges from 47% to 63% and in Winter from 86% to 67%

     The average annual rainfall is 81.5mm during the months of September to November due to North East monsoon. The area also gets fairly good rain from South West monsoon during the months of July & August.

     The wind direction is predominant towards South West. But during winter, it is from North East to South West and during summer it is found to be from South West to North East.

     The number of literate persons in the town is in the year 2001 out of the male population in 2001, the male literates works out to30.31% whereas the female literates works out to 39.03 %. The increase of 8.72 % Literates is very significant

     In 2001 the total working force is out of the total population of 1,30,376. The participation rate is 84.88 % to the total population. Therefore, the town is a District Head Quarters and also a market centre for its environs the prime economic activitiy of the town is its tertiary sector. The 84.88 % of workers in this sector which includes services, commerce & transport, works out 10.71% to total workers. The occupation under secondary sector such as manufacturing & household industries in the next predominant sector, which works out to 3.17% to the total workers. Primary occupation is also significant in this town.

     The Pondicherry – Bangalore National Highway (NH 66) & Chittoor – Cuddalore State Highway No.1 tranverse through this town. There are eight roads radiating from this town to other important urban centers.

     The land under agriculture & undeveloped vacant uses are 49.73% of the total extent of the town. The agricultural activities are more in eastern side of the fringe area of the town. An extent of 166 hectares are covered by the Reserved Forest & hillock also included in this category.

     Tiruvannamalai town is provided with protected water supply system. At present there are two systems functioning. One is at Samudram (Eri) Tank situated at 3 k.m from the town where drinking water is pumped with one 50HP motors & brought by main conduct. Another head work is functioning at Ulagalapadi river near Sathanur Dam at a distance of 24 km from the town water is pumped with two110 HP and two 60HP motor pumps to the service reservoir. The service reservoir is located at the foot of the Hill from where water is supplied to the town by gravity. By the end of 31.10.2004 there were 595 Street taps &12250 House connections. Both schemes provide120 Million liters of water per day & at the rate of 904 lit/head/day. There is a proposal for under Ground sewerage system for this town which anticipates Govt. sanction.