Rustenburg Local Municipality is one of 21 local municipalities in North West Province and forms part of the Bojanala District Municipality. It represents the core part of platinum mining in South Africa, and the N4 Platinum Development Corridor runs from east to west through the municipal area.

The RLM accommodates about 16% of the provincial population, and it is estimated that it will in future experience significant population growth (up to 32.9% of the provincial population growth). At present it also represents about 18% of the provincial housing backlog (± 60 000 units).

With 645 000 people, the Rustenburg Local Municipality housed 1.1% of South Africa's total population in 2017. Between 2007 and 2017 the population growth averaged 3.05% per annum which is about double than the growth rate of South Africa as a whole (1.56%). Compared to Bojanala Platinum's average annual growth rate (2.34%), the growth rate in Rustenburg's population at 3.05% was slightly higher than that of the district municipality.