As of 2021, it has a population of 9,325,[1] and was at one point the smallest town in England to have had a Football League team, Rushden & Diamonds F.C..

The mine was owned and operated by Richard Thomas & Baldwin's Ltd., the ore being sent to RTB's Redbourne steelworks in Scunthorpe.

[7] More recently, the River Nene floodplains between the town and its neighbour, Higham Ferrers, have been quarried for gravel.

Quarrying in the area was extensive, stretching to Northampton in the west (upstream) and Thorpe Waterville in the north-northeast (downstream).

In 2012, the area was acquired by The Wildlife Trust, and has since been turned into Irthlingborough Lakes and Meadows, a nature reserve.

The A45 (former A605) is a straighter and more dependable road than the A6.In more recent years, an excessive pothole has took up residence along the bridge heading away from the town.

Whitworths, the home baking and fruit snack company, has been based in the town since 1886, and in 2024 employed 200 people at the plant on the B571 (Wellingborough Road).

[14] Between 2001 and 2006 Irthlingborough held the distinction of being the smallest town to hold a Football League club when Rushden & Diamonds F.C.

This was in part due to the funding of local businessman Max Griggs who bankrolled the club in the late 1990s until the mid millennium when he sold to a fans group for just £1 in 2005.