Like most major Indian cities, Nagpur's cosmopolitan culture reflects the presence of people from all over India. A notable fact about Nagpur is that it has remained peacful even as other Indian cities like Kolkota and Mumbai went through violent episodes of communal conflicts for one reason or another.

Although the middle class continues to comprise the major chunk of Nagpur's population, in recent times there has been an unprecendented rise in the number of millionares residing in the city. In 2006, the number of millionare households in Nagpur grew at a faster pace than other major cities like Pune, Delhi, or Chennai. Although historically the city has not reaped the benefits of India's economic boom in comparison to cities like Hyderabad and Bangalore, Nagpur remains one of the most livable cities in the country due to its citizen- friendly statistics. Recently, the city was judged as the cleanest and second greenest in India after Bangalore. Nagpur's crime has remained at a constant level. In general, the housing supply is moderately priced in comparison to megacities like Mumbai and Delhi, although the price of land has skyrocketed in posh localities like Ramdaspeth and Civil Lines. The city enjoys good quality and abundant water supply thanks to a successful crackdown on water theft by the local municipal corporation (NMC). However, various parts of the city have been affected by power cuts ranging from two and half to four hours in recent times due to the acute shortage of electricity in the state of Maharashtra.

Several important religious events are observed in the city throughout the year. Every year on Ram Navami (which ususally falls in late March or early April), Nagpur plays host to spectacular shobha yatra in which a massive procession of floats depicting various events from the Ramayana is organized by the Sri Poddareshwar Ram Mandir. The procession snakes through several important streets of the city from late afternoon to well past midnight and is witnessed by hundreds of thousands of people from the city as well as other parts of India. Like the rest of India, Nagpurians celebrates major Hindu festivals like Diwali, Holi and Dussera with fervour and enthusiasm. Celebrations lasting for several days are held on Ganesh Chaturthi and Durga Puja festivals in virtually every small locality in the city. Processions are also held on important festivals of other religions such as Eid e Milad, Guru Nanak Jayanti, Mahavir Jayanti and Moharram.

Nagpur also plays host to a variety of cultural events throughout the year. A week long Kalidas Festival organized by Maharashtra government and the South Central Zone Cultural Centre acts as a venue for a series of music and dance performances by such artistes of national repute as Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. The South Central Cultural Centre also actively sponsors various other cultural events in Nagpur city, such as the Orange City Craft Mela and Folk Dance Festival, which is noted for its numerous folk-dances. Nagpurians are also fond of Indian classical music and dance as is evident from the regular solo performances held Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and other famous artists. In addition, there are regular stagings of Marathi plays that have a large following.

Nagpur has a vibrant media scene with its own TV as well as radio station. In fact, All India Radio's Nagpur station is among the earliest set up in India, and currently Nagpur is the only non metro city in India that has two Doordarshan channels on air. Major newspapers in Marathi, Hindi, and English languages are published in the city. Lokmat, Sakal, Tarun Bharat, and Loksatta are major Marathi language newspapers published in Nagpur, while Dainik Bhaskar, Nav Bharat and Lokmat samachar are the leading Hindi ones. The locally published newspaper The Hitavada is the leading English language daily in Central India, while local editions of nationally known English language newspapers such as the Indian Express and The Times of India are also published in Nagpur city.