Biggest and smallest places in South East by population (2025)

Buckinghamshire was the most populated of South East’s 64 councils in 2025 (population estimate 584,296).

Adur was the least populated (64,802). The middle council, Tonbridge and Malling, had 137,913.

Map of population estimate across the UK

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Population estimate for every council in South East, highest first. Councils without a figure are listed last with the reason.
Rank	Council	Value
1	Buckinghamshire	584,296
2	Milton Keynes	308,866
3	Medway	292,697
4	Brighton and Hove	284,170
5	Southampton	259,230
6	Portsmouth	211,475
7	Basingstoke and Deane	194,037
8	Maidstone	191,415
9	Wokingham	189,024
10	Reading	183,762
11	New Forest	175,930
12	Arun	172,326
13	Cherwell	172,178
14	Wealden	168,308
15	Slough	167,450
16	Oxford	165,940
17	West Berkshire	165,523
18	Mid Sussex	163,566
19	Canterbury	162,612
20	Swale	160,671
21	Windsor and Maidenhead	159,776
22	Reigate and Banstead	159,413
23	South Oxfordshire	158,084
24	Vale of White Horse	152,217
25	Guildford	152,148
26	Horsham	152,016
27	Eastleigh	143,710
28	Thanet	143,618
29	Ashford	142,523
30	Elmbridge	142,484
31	Isle of Wight	140,777
32	Tonbridge and Malling	137,913
33	Waverley	137,218
34	Winchester	136,856
35	Test Valley	135,698
36	Bracknell Forest	132,145
37	East Hampshire	130,599
38	Chichester	130,224
39	Havant	127,362
40	Dartford	126,297
41	Crawley	124,462
42	Sevenoaks	123,183
43	West Oxfordshire	121,412
44	Dover	121,055
45	Tunbridge Wells	120,098
46	Fareham	115,373
47	Worthing	113,844
48	Folkestone and Hythe	112,163
49	Gravesham	111,221
50	Spelthorne	107,188
51	Woking	106,197
52	Rushmoor	106,185
53	Eastbourne	103,894
54	Hart	103,335
55	Lewes	102,648
56	Rother	96,150
57	Surrey Heath	95,094
58	Runnymede	93,013
59	Hastings	90,855
60	Tandridge	90,322
61	Mole Valley	88,808
62	Epsom and Ewell	83,370
63	Gosport	82,618
64	Adur	64,802

Source and method · See it on the map