Taiobeiras is a municipality in northern Minas Gerais, Brazil. It covers and had 33,050 residents in the 2022 census. The municipality has two districts, Taiobeiras and Mirandópolis, and belongs to the Immediate Geographic Region of Salinas and the Intermediate Geographic Region of Montes Claros.
The town grew from Sítio Bom Jardim, a settlement that developed along routes used by travelers and muleteers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Taiobeiras became a district in 1911 and a municipality in 1953. The economy includes garment manufacturing, cassava farming, beekeeping, and ornamental-stone quarrying.
History
Taiobeiras developed at Sítio Bom Jardim, a rural property where routes used by travelers and muleteers connected Teófilo Otoni, the interior of Bahia, Brejo das Almas, now Francisco Sá, and Montes Claros. Vitoriano Pereira da Costa had a chapel and cemetery built there. In 1875, Esperidião Gonçalves dos Santos, a priest from Rio Pardo de Minas, blessed the cemetery, and a cross was raised beside it. Vitoriano and his wife, Ana Severina de Jesus, donated part of the property for the settlement. After Vitoriano died in 1900, Ana sold the land to Martinho Antônio Rego, a Bahia tropeiro, born in 1851, whose family had settled at Sítio Bom Jardim in 1895. The purchases were completed in 1901 and 1910. Martinho opened the settlement's first cloth shop and established a general store in 1907. Houses and small shops gathered along what became Avenida da Liberdade. Local landowners paid for a channel that carried water from Córrego Bom Jardim.
Martinho served as a police delegate and local political leader, and in 1898 became the settlement's first representative on the municipal council of Rio Pardo de Minas. Martinho's son João Rego became a merchant and landowner. João's store sold general merchandise and textiles and had a gasoline pump. He helped found the Cooperativa dos Produtores Rurais de Taiobeiras, became its first president, donated lots to local institutions, and worked with Trajano Americano Mendes on the road toward Salinas. State Law No. 556 of August 30, 1911, made Taiobeiras a district of Rio Pardo. State Law No. 843 of September 7, 1923, transferred it to Salinas and changed its name to Bom Jardim de Taiobeiras. The district was renamed Taiobeiras in 1938.
State Law No. 1,039 of December 12, 1953, separated Taiobeiras from Salinas and created the municipality from the former district. The new municipality was installed on January 1, 1954. Its first electricity system began operating in 1955 from a small dam on the Grama River and supplied the town for two hours each evening. Work on the municipal market and a road from the municipal seat to Mirandópolis began in the municipality's first years.
Berizal became a district of Taiobeiras in 1962. It remained part of Taiobeiras until State Law No. 12,030 of December 21, 1995, created the municipality of Berizal. The new municipality was installed on January 1, 1997. Municipal Law No. 1,357 of November 7, 2018, created the district of Mirandópolis from the settlement of the same name.
Geography
Taiobeiras is in northern Minas Gerais, in the Immediate Geographic Region of Salinas and the Intermediate Geographic Region of Montes Claros. The municipality covers and is divided into the districts of Taiobeiras and Mirandópolis. It borders Rio Pardo de Minas and Indaiabira to the north, Berizal and Curral de Dentro to the east, Salinas to the south, and Novorizonte to the west.
Broad, flat chapadas cover much of Taiobeiras. Metasedimentary rocks of the Nova Aurora and Salinas formations lie below the surface, while younger detrital deposits cover many uplands. Quartzite and metaconglomerate from the Salinas Formation are quarried for ornamental stone.
Taiobeiras straddles the Pardo and Jequitinhonha drainage basins. The Pardo basin covers 76.87 percent of the municipal territory and receives water from the Taiobeiras, Cercado, Tocão, Itaberaba and Covão streams. The remaining 23.13 percent drains toward the Jequitinhonha through watercourses that include the Taboqueiro and Grama rivers.
Rain falls mainly in the warmer months, while winters are dry. In the area covered by the Taiobeiras geological sheet, the mean annual temperature is , annual rainfall is about , and average maximum temperatures are near . Parts of the municipality fall in the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest biomes. The municipal master plan calls for controls on deforestation, erosion, stream sedimentation, and damage from extractive activity. It also calls for restoration of streamside vegetation and springs.
Demographics
Population
The 2022 census counted 33,050 residents in Taiobeiras, or 27.09 inhabitants per square kilometer. The estimated population was 34,537 on July 1, 2025.
+ Census population Year Population Change from preceding census 2000 27,347 Not applicable 2010 30,917 +13.1% 2022 33,050 +6.9%
Population growth slowed after 2010. In that year's census, 25,060 residents lived in urban areas and 5,857 lived in rural areas. The urban share was 81.1 percent.
Population profile
Taiobeiras had 16,133 men and 16,917 women in 2022, equivalent to 95.4 men for every 100 women. The median age rose from 28 in 2010 to 35 in 2022. Residents younger than 15 were 19.6 percent of the population. Those aged 60 or older were 16.9 percent.
The 2022 census used self-declared color or race categories.
+ Self-declared color or race, 2022 Category Population Share Pardo 20,486 61.98% White 10,046 30.40% Black 2,472 7.48% Asian 28 0.08% Indigenous 18 0.05%
The literacy rate among residents aged 15 or older rose from 82.3 percent in 2010 to 86.3 percent in 2022. Of the 26,573 people in this age group in 2022, 22,930 could read and write a simple note.
Economy
Taiobeiras had a gross domestic product of R$705.4 million in 2023. GDP per capita was R$21,342.59.
Garment manufacturing has grown into one of Taiobeiras's main industrial activities, centered on lingerie, swimwear, sportswear, and protective clothing. Minas Gerais recognized the local industry as a productive arrangement in 2021. By late 2025, Taiobeiras had about 122 garment businesses, which together generated around 450 direct jobs and R$25 million in annual revenue. About 96 percent of the businesses were led by women, and 35 belonged to the Associação de Moda Íntima e Praia de Taiobeiras (AMIP).
Public investment has accompanied the growth of the industry. Since 2021, the Development Company of the São Francisco and Parnaíba Valleys (Codevasf) has spent more than R$11 million on machinery, training, trade fairs, technical assistance, and new facilities for the local garment sector. The Quarteirão da Moda opened in December 2025 as a dedicated area for clothing businesses, with the Escola da Moda and a convention center forming part of the development. The Escola da Moda and convention center received R$5.57 million in federal investment. The school provides vocational training for the clothing industry, while the convention center gives Taiobeiras a permanent venue for fairs and business events.
Technical assistance has also focused on improving production inside the factories. In 2025, the FIEMG reported that garment businesses receiving Lean Manufacturing consulting had increased productivity by 63 percent over ten months, while turnover in the sector rose by 17 percent.
Outside the town, smaller agricultural and extractive businesses add another layer to the local economy. Family farmers in the rural community of Cercado grow cassava and process it into flour, starch, baked foods, and animal feed. Taiobeiras gives its name to a local beekeeping network that also includes Indaiabira and Rio Pardo de Minas. Part of the municipality falls within the registered Região de Salinas geographical indication for cachaça. Quartzite and metaconglomerate are quarried for ornamental stone.
Politics and government
Formation of municipal government
Before Taiobeiras became a municipality, the settlement was represented politically on the councils of the municipalities to which it belonged. Martinho Antônio Rego, who had acquired land within what is now Taiobeiras, also served as a police delegate and became an early political leader of the settlement. In 1898, he was elected to the Municipal Council of Rio Pardo de Minas, where he represented Taiobeiras.
The creation of a separate municipality was discussed for years while Taiobeiras remained part of Salinas. In 1943, João, Maciel, and Teófilo Rego were among the local leaders campaigning for municipal autonomy, together with Trajano Americano Mendes and Antonino Almeida. They opposed a political group in Salinas led by Idalino Ribeiro, which resisted the separation of the district. An attempt to create the municipality progressed within the state government that year, but Taiobeiras was left out of the administrative reorganization approved in December. The campaign was later resumed, and Taiobeiras became a municipality under State Law No. 1,039 of December 12, 1953.
Taiobeiras began governing itself when the municipality was installed on January 1, 1954. The state government appointed Lídio Ituassu as its first municipal administrator. At the reception held for the new administrator, Eusa Rego gave a speech on behalf of the women of Taiobeiras. Ituassu was succeeded in July by Oswaldo Costa, known as Vadim Costa, who remained in office until January 1955. Lúcio José Miranda took office that year as the municipality's first elected mayor. The Municipal Council also began operating during this period. Francisco Nogueira was its first president, serving from 1955 to 1957, and José Mendes Rego succeeded him in 1958.
Some mayors returned to office for separate terms. Uilton Costa Mendes served three times, from 1959 to 1962, from 1967 to 1970, and from 1974 to 1977. Joel da Cruz Santos governed from 1978 to 1982, returned from 1989 to 1992, and took office again in 1997 before being reelected to the term beginning in 2001. Joel resigned in 2002 to run for the state legislature, and vice mayor João Emílio Arifa Silva completed the term through 2004. Maria Matos de Sena, who served from 1993 to 1996, was the first woman to become mayor of Taiobeiras.
Since 2005, the mayor's office has alternated between Denerval Germano da Cruz and Danilo Mendes Rodrigues. Denerval served two consecutive terms from 2005 to 2012. Danilo, who had been elected to the Municipal Council in 2008 and served as council president from 2011 to 2012, was mayor from 2013 to 2020. Denerval returned to the mayor's office in 2021 and was reelected in 2024.
Municipal government
Taiobeiras adopted its current municipal charter, the Lei Orgânica, on October 27, 1990, after the adoption of the 1988 Constitution of Brazil. It had been amended twelve times by 2022. The charter divides municipal government between executive and legislative branches. Executive authority is exercised by the mayor, assisted by the vice mayor and municipal secretaries. Legislative authority belongs to the 13-member Municipal Council, whose members are elected to four-year terms.
The size of the Municipal Council has changed since the municipality was created. A court ruling reduced the council from thirteen to nine members in 1997. An amendment to the municipal charter adopted in 1999 restored thirteen seats, which has remained the size of the council in subsequent terms.
The Municipal Council passes local legislation and votes on taxation, the municipal budget, planning, and other matters under municipal jurisdiction. It also oversees budget execution and reviews the mayor's annual accounts after receiving a preliminary opinion from the Court of Accounts of the State of Minas Gerais. Council meetings are open to the public except in the circumstances provided for by the municipal charter.