Loughton is a town and civil parishes in England in the Epping Forest (district) district of Essex. It is located between 11 and 13 miles (21 km) north east of Charing Cross in London, south of the M25 motorway and west of the M11 motorway and has boundaries with Chingford, Buckhurst Hill, Theydon Bois, Waltham Abbey, Essex, and Chigwell. Loughton includes 3 conservation areas and there are 56 listed buildings in the town, together with a further 50 locally listed.
Loughton has a population of 30,340 and covers about , of which over are part of Epping Forest. Within Essex it is the second most populous civil parish, after Canvey Island, and the second largest in area.