Laufen is a principal train station for the surrounding area, connecting it to Basel.

During the early sixth century, the entire valley came into the possession of France, and from 853 until 1033 it was part of the Burgundian Kingdom.

In 999 Rudolf III, the childless king of Burgundy donated most of the Laufen valley territory to the Archbishopric of Basel.

[3] In 1295 Peter Reich von Reichenstein [de] founded the small town of Laufen.

Laufen has an area, as of 2009[update], of 11.37 square kilometers (4.39 sq mi).

[5] The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Sable, a Crozier Argent.

[9] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (4,020 or 82.8%), with Italian language being second most common (333 or 6.9%) and Spanish being third (125 or 2.6%).

[8] The age distribution, as of 2010[update], in Laufen is; 338 children or 6.4% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 747 teenagers or 14.2% are between 7 and 19.

[9] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][14] The Christian-Catholic Church of St. Katharina is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

The entire old city of Laufen in part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

[16] In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the FDP which received 29.87% of the vote.

[9] There were 2,549 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.5% of the workforce.

The number of jobs in the primary sector was 21, of which 16 were in agriculture and 6 were in forestry or lumber production.

In the tertiary sector; 424 or 24.6% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 105 or 6.1% were in the movement and storage of goods, 81 or 4.7% were in a hotel or restaurant, 12 or 0.7% were in the information industry, 195 or 11.3% were the insurance or financial industry, 146 or 8.5% were technical professionals or scientists, 141 or 8.2% were in education and 434 or 25.2% were in health care.

[21] From the 2000 census[update], 3,058 or 63.0% were Roman Catholic, while 692 or 14.2% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

The wettest month is August during which time Laufen receives an average of 119 mm (4.7 in) of rain or snow.

The month with the most days of precipitation is May, with an average of 14.4, but with only 109 mm (4.3 in) of rain or snow.

The driest month of the year is February with an average of 66 mm (2.6 in) of precipitation over 11.2 days.