San Nicolas is one of the 48 towns of Pangasinan and belongs to the 6th District. It is bounded on the north by the Municipality of Itogon, Benguet, on the east by the Municipality of Sta. Fe, Nueva Vizcaya, on the south by the towns of Tayug and Natividad, and on the west by the Agno River. San Nicolas is 205 kms. North of manila and 40 kms from Lingayen. It consists of 33 barangays and has a population of 29,287.

San Nicolas town is accessible to all means of land transportation such as buses, minibuses, jeepneys, and tricycles. One of its distinctive landmarks is the Red Arrow Monument located at Sta. Maria East.

The Municipality of San Nicolas has a total land area of 23,481 has., wherein 72% consist of mountains, forested, silted, eroded, and barren land. Based on the total classified alienable and disposable land, San Nicolas has a total potential land area for use in farming of 3,625 has. The municipality's forest land consists of 17,030.2 has. While 6,450.8 has. Are considered as alienable land and disposable land. Of the total forest land area, there are 11,255.2 has. Classified as part of the Central Cordillera Forest reserve and 5,775 has. Unclassified as public forest.

There are four major rivers that traverse the municipality, namely: Agno River, which originates in the Mountain Province coursing through San Felipe East; Ambayoan River, also originating in Maountain Province near the source of Ambuklao River coursing through Barangay Fianza; Cabalisian River originating in Barangay Malico near Sta. Fe, Nueva Vizcaya; and Sabangan River which originates is San Felipe East.

The town San Nicolas was founded in the year 1810. It was named after Nicolas Patricio Y Mejia and his wife Isidra Sangalang. With the joint approval of his followers and the native Igorot settlers, Nicolas Patricio Y Mejia was appointed in 1818 to act as the Kapitan and eventually adopted San Nicolas de Tolentino as the municipality's patron saint.