A Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA) is a GEOGRAPHIC AREA.

Lower Layer Super Output Areas are a geographic hierarchy designed to improve the reporting of small area statistics in England and Wales.

Lower Layer Super Output Areas are built from groups of contiguous Output Areas and have been automatically generated to be as consistent in population size as possible, and typically contain from four to six Output Areas. The Minimum population is 1000 and the mean is 1500.

There is a Lower Layer Super Output Area for each POSTCODE in England and Wales. A pseudo code is available for Scotland, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

The Organisation Data Service publish files created on their behalf by the Office for National Statistics, which link POSTCODES to the Lower Layer Super Output Area.

See the Organisation Data Service pages on the NHS Digital website at: Gridlink NHS Postcode for the NHS Postcode Directory User Guide.

 

This supporting information is also known by these names:

Context	Alias
shortname	LSOA
alsoknownas	Lower Layer SOA
plural	Lower Layer Super Output Areas