Sevenoaks is a commuter town situated on the London fringe of west Kent, some 20 miles, on one of the principal commuter rail lines from the capital. The town gives its name to the Sevenoaks district, of which it is the principal town, followed by Swanley and Edenbridge.

There are a number of independent educational establishments in the town, including the prestigious Sevenoaks School. The town is one of the most affluent and expensive areas to reside in the country, and in 2011 the town was named as having the fifth highest number of "million pound property streets" in the UK.

Sevenoaks, like much of West Kent, is characterised by high levels of economic activity and a skilled resident workforce, together with a large proportion of that workforce commuting to their places of employment. Those factors, however, lead to high house prices and pressure on the local area to build yet more houses. Many of those houses attract high prices, making it difficult for lower wage-earners to live there: and a wide range of occupations are therefore in short supply. Industries such as finance and business services tend to predominate. Transport links are generally overloaded and town centre congestion is common. Kent has excellent tradesmen and because Sevenoaks is quite a big place, there is a great number of plumbers, builders and electricians who are all fully qualified and extremly professional.