2011 Census geographies

Output Areas (OAs) are the lowest level of geographical area for census statistics and were first created following the 2001 Census. Using 2011 Census data, some changes were made to 2001 OAs as a result of population and household changes since 2001.

2001 OAs that were still made up of between 40 and 250 households and had a usually resident population between 100 and 625 persons did not change. Otherwise, new 2011 OAs were created by merging or splitting 2001 OAs to make sure they fitted within the population and household thresholds of the unchanged 2001 OAs.

There are some exceptions where OAs may have more than 625 people, for example, where there is a large prison.

Outputs from the 2011 Census are for 2011 OAs and are made up of unchanged 2001 OAs and new 2011 OAs.

Lower layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) are made up of groups of OAs, usually four or five. They comprise between 400 and 1,200 households and have a usually resident population between 1,000 and 3,000 persons.

Using 2011 Census data, some changes were made to 2001 LSOAs as a result of population and household changes since 2001. New 2011 LSOAs were created by merging or splitting 2001 LSOAs to ensure that population and household thresholds were met.

Outputs from the 2011 Census are for 2011 LSOAs and are made up of unchanged 2001 LSOAs and new 2011 LSOAs.

There were 32,844 LSOAs in England and 1,909 in Wales. View and download the names and codes of LSOAs on our Open Geography website.

Middle layer Super Output Areas (MSOAs) are made up of groups of LSOAs, usually four or five. They comprise between 2,000 and 6,000 households and have a usually resident population between 5,000 and 15,000 persons. MSOAs fit within local authorities.

Outputs from the 2011 Census are for 2011 MSOAs and are made up of unchanged 2001 MSOAs and new 2011 MSOAs.

There were 6,791 MSOAs in England and 410 in Wales. View and download the names and codes of the MSOAs on our Open Geography website.

OAs, LSOAs and MSOAs make up the different levels of the census statistical geographies.

In 2011 there were 7,707 wards in England and 881 in Wales.

Civil parishes are mainly found in rural areas in England. In Wales they are known as “communities” and cover the whole of the country. Councillors are elected to a parish council and carry out powers and duties set out in legislation.

There were 10,490 parishes in England and 868 communities in Wales.

Built-up areas and built-up area sub-divisions are areas that have urban characteristics and include settlements such as villages, towns and cities.

Built-up area sub-divisions are areas that have been broken up from larger built-up areas to make smaller areas.

Following the 2011 Census, there were 5,493 built-up areas in England and Wales. View and download the names and codes of built-up areas on our Open Geography website.

There were 1,693 built-up area sub-divisions in England and Wales. View and download the names and codes of built-up area sub-divisions on our Open Geography website.

A workplace zone is an area where people work.

They were designed so that they have similar numbers of workers in them, between 200 and 625 workers.

Workplace zones are made up by splitting and merging the 2011 Output Areas (OAs). They fit within the MSOA boundaries. Read more about how workplace zones were created for Census 2011 in our workplace zones guidance document on our Open Geography website.

There were 58,953 workplace zones in the UK.

View and download a list of workplace zones within local authorities and MSOAs including the classification of employment on the Open Geography website.

A Travel To Work Area is an area where a large proportion of workers both live and work.

There were 228 Travel To Work Areas covering the UK. They are based on groups of Lower layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) in England and Wales, Data Zones in Scotland and Super Output Areas in Northern Ireland.

Some areas may cross country borders. They could either be an area that covers parts of England and Wales, or an area that covers parts of England and Scotland.

View and download the names and codes for the Travel To Work Areas on our Open Geography website.

Find out about the different geographies used in Scotland's 2011 Census on Scotland's Census website.

Find out about the different geographies used in Northern Ireland’s 2011 Census on the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) website.