Ra'anana is an affluent city in the southern Sharon Plain of the Central District of Israel. It was founded in 1922 as an American-Jewish settlement, c.1 km south of the village of Tabsur, where an important World War I battle had taken place four years previously.

The Central District of Israel is one of six administrative districts, including most of the Sharon region. It is further divided into four sub-districts: Petah Tikva, Ramla, Sharon, and Rehovot. The district's largest city is Rishon LeZion. The district's population as of 2017 was 2,115,800. According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, 88% of the population is Jewish, 8.2% is Arab, and 4% are "non-classified", being mostly former Soviet Union immigrants of partial or nominal Jewish ethnic heritage or household members of Jews.