Laufach (German pronunciation: [ˈlaʊfax]) is a municipality in the Aschaffenburg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany. As of 2023, the population of Laufach was 5,308.

The municipality lies in northwest Bavaria east of Aschaffenburg. Laufach lies in the heart of the Vorspessart (range) and stretches through its outlying centre of Hain into the High Spessart. The municipality's elevation ranges from 170 to 500 m above sea level, including the peaks of Steigkoppe to the north and Steinknückl to the south.

Laufach's Gemeindeteile are Frohnhofen (898 inhabitants), Hain (1,177 inhabitants) and Laufach (3,204 inhabitants).

In 1084, Laufach, which was originally known as Laufahe, had its first documentary mention in an obituary from Saints Peter and Alexander collegiate church in Aschaffenburg. Laufach's name came from the stream on which it was built. Over the years, the municipality's name has changed many times, from Laufache in 1182, to Loifahe in 1191, to Loupha in 1348, to Lauffach around 1528 and 1624 before settling on Laufach in the early 19th century.

The Laufach valley was settled under the protection of the Counts of Rieneck, who already held the Vogtei (position of Vogt) from the Archbishopric of Mainz and the collegiate church in Aschaffenburg. On the Rieneck free court in 1380 – where Schöffen (roughly “lay jurists”) from Laufach were specifically mentioned – settlers sat as free citizens.

In the mid-14th century, glassmakers were brought into service in the Spessart with special incentives. Since they had to leave the forest from Martinmas (11 November) until Easter, they sought winter dwellings in Hain and Laufach. Many of these workers settled here owing to family ties. Already by 1469, there was a mine near the "Weyber" palace (Schloss Weyber, Weyberhöfe). In Unserer lieber Frauen Teil, presumably part of the Liebesgrund, copper was mined. After the Thirty Years' War, ores were mined and smelted.

In the mid-18th century, in the area of today's sporting ground, a hammer mill was built. The building of a railway in the years 1850 to 1854 had a very positive effect on the municipality's industrial development. With the railway station, an important transport link with Aschaffenburg and the whole Lower Main was created. In the course of time, the ironworks became an integrated industry in which both the mining and the processing were done, yielding a finished product.

Even trades and crafts were important to Laufach quite early on. From earlier craft businesses grew highly productive operations.