Port Hedland is in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. BlueScope Steel, formerly BHP Steel, is a major contributor to Port Hedland's economy.

Port Hedland is a major iron ore export location, a large amount of iron ore is shipped out of here. It is located on the North West Coast Highway between the north-west towns, and the next major location around the coast of Broome, to the northeast in the Kimberley. Long distances to travel to anywhere from here, and long trains into the port.

Port Hedland has a semi-arid climate with a tropical savanna climate influence. Port Hedland is warm to hot all year round, with mean maximum temperatures of 36.4 °C (97.5 °F) in January and 27.1 °C (80.8 °F) in July. Maximum temperatures in summer are usually moderated by a warm but humid sea breeze. Port Hedland is very sunny, receiving around 218.9 of clear days annually. Dewpoint in the warmer months typically ranges from 19 °C (66 °F) to 22 °C (72 °F).

Port Hedland has a flatback sea turtle rookery, located on the main beach front. Several lookouts along the beachfront path allow views of marine mammals including Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphins, and Australian snubfin dolphins.
The Port Hedland Saltworks Important Bird Area is a 103 km2 tract of originally intertidal land, now containing a saltern, about 20 km east of the port of Port Hedland. The site regularly supports over 1% of the world populations of red-necked stints and sharp-tailed sandpipers, as well as a population of the range-restricted dusky gerygone. Species that have strongly declined since the 1980s are broad-billed sandpipers, Asian dowitchers, curlew sandpipers, red-necked avocets, banded stilts, Oriental plovers, Oriental pratincoles and white-winged black terns. Other species present include Australian bustards, bush stone-curlews, western bowerbirds, painted finches and canary white-eyes.