Sutton is situated 10.6 miles south-southwest of Charing Cross. It is one of the major metropolitan centres in London.

Nearby towns include Belmont, Carshalton, Cheam, Banstead, St. Helier, Wallington and Worcester Park.

Sutton is one of several towns located on a narrow bed of Thanet sands which extends from Croydon in the east, to Epsom in the west. To the south of this belt is chalk of the North Downs, and to the north is clay. The belt of Thanet sands allowed wells to provide clean water, whereas the clay to the north mostly offered surface water of unsuitable quality. This feature attracted settlements to the sand belt from a very early date. The most notable of these were Epsom, Ewell, Cuddington, Cheam, Sutton, Carshalton, Wallington, and Waddon.