It is a mixture of suburban development and open land (including some farmland) situated 8 miles (13 km) north north-west of Charing Cross.

[4] With the opening of the Great Northern Railway station in 1872, late-Victorian and Edwardian mansions were built around the old village.

Totteridge was a civil parish of Hertfordshire covering an area of 1,604 acres (6.49 km2)[5] and formed part of a narrow salient into Middlesex.

Totteridge has many spacious detached properties in a green setting that are highly valued; some of them are among the most expensive houses in London.

Its past and present residents have included the rich and famous, including Arsène Wenger, Frankie Vaughan, Des O'Connor, Cliff Richard, Mickie Most, Hank Marvin, David Dein, Mike Ashley, Bruce Forsyth, David Ginola, Lord Levy and other dignitaries.

Woodside Park tube station is also situated at the Southern edge, bordering North Finchley.

The place of birth of residents was 69.3% United Kingdom, 1.8% Republic of Ireland, 4.2% other Western European countries, and 24.7% elsewhere.

[7] The economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 38.3% in full-time employment, 9.9% in part-time employment, 14.7% self-employed, 2.3% unemployed, 1.9% students with jobs, 7.6% students without jobs, 11.1% retired, 8.8% looking after home or family, 2% permanently sick or disabled and 3.4% economically inactive for other reasons.

The industry of employment of residents was 15.1% retail, 6.9% manufacturing, 3.2% construction, 23.2% real estate, 9.8% health and social work, 8.9% education, 6% transport and communications, 6.9% public administration, 3.5% hotels and restaurants, 8.5% finance, 0.4% agriculture and 7.6% other.

Compared with national figures, the ward had a relatively high proportion of workers in finance and real estate.