Jalisco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco, is one of the thirty-one states that, together with Mexico City, make up Mexico. Its most populated municipality is Zapopan and its capital and most populated city is Guadalajara. It is divided into one hundred and twenty-five municipalities.

Jalisco is located in the western region of the country, bordering Nayarit, Zacatecas and Aguascalientes to the north, San Luis Potosí to the northeast, Guanajuato to the east, Michoacán and Colima to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west.

Con 8 348 151 habitantes en 2020, es la tercera entidad federativa más poblada —por detrás del Estado de México y la Ciudad de México— y, con 78 588 km², la séptima más extensa, por detrás de Chihuahua, Sonora, Coahuila, Durango, Oaxaca y Tamaulipas. Fue fundado el 16 de junio de 1823.

It was established as a province of the Kingdom of New Galicia between 1575 and 1786; later, as the Intendancy of Guadalajara (1786-1821), and, finally, as a state or department.

It is part of the Central West macroregion of Mexico. Several of the cultural elements considered worldwide to be "characteristically Mexican" have their origin in Jalisco, such as mariachis, tequila and jaripeos.

The climate in the state ranges from warm subhumid to semi-dry temperate, with a highlight being the semi-warm subhumid with rains in summer. Along with the entire Bajío region, it is one of the states with the greatest economic, commercial and cultural development and growth.

The Guadalajara metropolitan area has a total population of over 5,270,000 inhabitants (2021), made up of the municipalities of Guadalajara, Zapopan, Tlaquepaque, Tonalá, Tlajomulco, El Salto, Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos, Zapotlanejo and Juanacatlán, making this the third most populated urban agglomeration in Mexico, after the Valley of Mexico and Monterrey. Other important cities are Puerto Vallarta, Ciudad Guzmán, Tepatitlán de Morelos, Ocotlán and Arandas.