Arakkonam is a mid-sized town located in Vellore district about 69 km from the state capital of Chennai. Nearby towns include Kanchipuram and Sholingur. Arakkonam is also one of the biggest junctions in Southern Railway. Tamil & Telugu are the languages spoken here. Arakkonam is an Indian Parliamentary constituency and is also a Tamil Nadu state assembly constituency.

Arakkonam is a part of development of towns around Chennai callled MAP (Marakkanam, Arakkonam and Pulicat). The plan is being developed to build a strong Greater Chennai Region for balanced and inclusive regional development in Tamil Nadu.