Almost one in five youngsters missed out on their first-choice secondary school this year amid a record rise in applications.
More than 100,000 children did not receive their first preference, the latest Department for Education figures show.
A total of 82.6 per cent received their first choice – down from 83.3 per cent last year.
Lambeth (61.6 per cent), Redbridge (63.3 per cent) and Wandsworth (64.0 per cent) in London were the local authorities with the lowest first preference rates.
While Rutland (98.0 per cent), Central Bedfordshire (97.1 per cent) and Cumbria (96.0 per cent) had the highest.
It comes amid a record 620,000 applications for a secondary school place – the biggest number since such data was first collected in 2014.
Louis Hodge, associate director at the Education Policy Institute, said: 'Today's data on school applications and offers highlights a number of developing trends across the English education system.
