Loughton is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, on the outskirts of north east London. Part of the metropolitan and urban area of London, it is located 12 miles northeast of Charing Cross. The town borders Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill, and is served by the M11 motorway and the Central line of the London Underground. Loughton has three conservation areas and there are 56 listed buildings in the town, together with a further 50 that are locally listed.
The parish of Loughton covers an area of about 3,724 acres, of which over 1,300 acres are part of Epping Forest. The ancient parish contained over 3,900 acres, but in 1996 some parts of the south of the old parish were transferred to Buckhurst Hill parish, and other small portions to Chigwell and Theydon Bois. At the time of the 2001 census Loughton had a population of 30,340, and at the 2011 Census, 31,106. It is the most populous civil parish in the Epping Forest district, and within Essex it is the second most populous civil parish and the second largest in the area.