Woking is a large town and civil parish that shares its name with the surrounding local government district, located in the west of Surrey, England. It functions as a dormitory town of the London commuter belt and is located 23 miles (37 km) south west of Charing Cross in central London. Woking town itself, excluding the district, has a population of 62,796, and the administrative civil parish, which covers part of the urban area inclusive of Sheerwater and Knaphill, has a population of 30,403.