Haugesund is a municipality on the North Sea in Rogaland county, Norway. While the population is greater in the neighboring Karmøy municipality, the main commercial and economic centre of the Haugaland region in northern Rogaland and southern Vestland is in Haugesund. The majority of the population of Haugesund lives in the Haugesund urban area in the municipality's southwest. The majority of the municipality outside this area is rural or undeveloped.

The 72.68-square-kilometre (28.06 sq mi) municipality is the 338th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Haugesund is the 28th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 37,357. The municipality's population density is 546.4 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,415/sq mi) and its population has increased by 9.7% over the previous 10-year period.

The Haugesund urban area, which extends into the neighboring municipality of Karmøy, makes up about 15.5 square kilometres (6.0 sq mi) of the municipality. 8,884 people of the urban area live in Karmøy. Only about 1,000 residents of Haugesund municipality that live in the 57-square-kilometre (22 sq mi) rural portion of the municipality.

The town is situated on a strategically important sound, the Karmsundet, through which ships could pass without traversing heavy seas. In the early years, the coastal waters off Haugesund were a huge source of herring, and the town grew accordingly. Despite being barely a village back then, King Harald Fairhair lived at Avaldsnes, very close to the modern town of Haugesund. In the last decades, the town, like its neighbours, has been turning towards the petroleum industry, with the herring being long gone.

During the last 20 years, the municipality has established its position as the main trading centre for the Haugaland region and southern parts of Vestland county. It has several relatively large shopping centres, however, this has led to a decline of the trade and shopping activity in the town centre.

The Haugesund Region, a statistical metropolitan area, which consists of the municipalities Karmøy, Haugesund, Tysvær, Sveio and Bokn, has a population of approximately 100,000 people (as of 2009).