We are Knox

28 per cent.

Nearly 28 in every 100 Knox residents speak a language other than English at home. It is among the highest shares of any council in Victoria.

Our population
158,075
Speak another language
43,864
Languages at home
120
Growth since last census
+18.7%

One in 4 of us speaks a language other than English at home: 44k people, most often Mandarin, Cantonese and Sinhalese. That is not a fringe of the community. It is a standing share of every audience anyone here is trying to reach.

In Victoria

#16

of 79 Victoria councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #74 of 540 nationally.

What makes our community ours

Mandarin

11,559 speakers

Mandarin is spoken by 11,559 of our residents at home, 7.3% of Knox.

Cantonese

5,502 speakers

Cantonese is spoken by 5,502 of our residents at home, 3.5% of Knox.

Sinhalese

2,676 speakers

Sinhalese is spoken by 2,676 of our residents at home, 1.7% of Knox.

The languages of Knox

120 languages carry the conversation at home. Every one of them is spoken here.

Each block below is scaled to the number of people who speak that language at home, and tinted by how fast that community has grown since the last census.

  • Grew 50%+
  • 25%+
  • 10%+
  • Held
  • Slipped
  • Declined 10%+
  • Not comparable
The 18 most spoken languages in Knox, covering 35,483 speakers. Area is speakers at the 2021 Census; tint is the change since 2016. Every figure is also in the table below.

Every language, in order

Speakers at the 2021 Census, with the change since 2016. Broader ABS categories such as “Chinese, nfd” are counted in our totals but left out of this list, so the percentages can exceed the sum of the languages shown.

  1. 01
    Mandarin
    11,559+43.3%
  2. 02
    Cantonese
    5,502+14.6%
  3. 03
    Sinhalese
    2,676+28.1%
  4. 04
    Greek
    1,633-9.2%
  5. 05
    Hindi
    1,478+13.3%
  6. 06
    Tamil
    1,468+33.3%
  7. 07
    Italian
    1,402-21.0%
  8. 08
    Vietnamese
    1,291+9.6%
  9. 09
    Arabic
    1,161+3.1%
  10. 10
    Persian (excluding Dari)
    1,106+64.6%

Fastest-growing among us

Urdu

+92.8% since last census

We share this portrait because Knox is, genuinely, not an “average” council. Services designed for the median Victoria resident arrive here in the wrong language. This almanac exists so that nobody writing policy about us — federal, state, corporate or media — can say they did not know.

Urdu grew 92.8% since the last census, to 347 speakers. A community growing at that rate is one whose translation needs are ahead of the last set of figures anyone commissioned.

Who we are, beyond language

Where we were born

31.1% of us were born overseas, across 130 countries.

  1. 01
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    8,495+40.7%
  2. 02
    India
    5,173+33.1%
  3. 03
    England
    5,070-11.6%
  4. 04
    Malaysia
    3,960+23.5%
  5. 05
    Sri Lanka
    3,813+21.7%
  6. 06
    New Zealand
    1,952+4.8%
  7. 07
    Hong Kong (SAR of China)
    1,598+23.1%
  8. 08
    Philippines
    1,432+9.8%
  9. 09
    Vietnam
    1,359+15.5%
  10. 10
    Singapore
    1,032+22.0%

What we believe

Reported affiliation in Knox at the 2021 Census, with the change since 2016.

  1. 01
    Christianity
    68,181-11.8%
  2. 02
    No religion or secular beliefs
    66,604+26.1%
  3. 03
    Buddhism
    6,845+17.1%
  4. 04
    Hinduism
    5,605+39.2%
  5. 05
    Islam
    2,434+45.5%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    1150%

Our suburbs

Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 11 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.

Where we are

Knox shaded by the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. Boundaries are ABS ASGS 2021. See every council on one map.

In context

Knox
27.7%
Victoria
26.6%
Australia
21.3%

27.7% of Knox residents speak a language other than English at home, against 26.6% for Victoria and 21.3% nationally. Drawn from the 2021 Census.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2021, language used at home by Statistical Area Level 2, aggregated to Local Government Area. Growth compares 2021 against the 2016 Census.

How the headline share is counted. 27.7% is 43,864 residents as a share of all 158,075 of us. A further 5,232 did not state a language at all, and we do not count them as speaking one — counting every non-response as a non-English speaker would put this figure at 31.1%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 28.7%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Knox, it is almost certainly one of those two.

Two further caveats we would rather state than bury. Summing suburbs omits residents not allocated to one — no usual address, migratory and unincorporated areas — so national totals sit a little under the ABS published figures; the Knox figures on this page are unaffected. And ranked language lists exclude ABS residual categories such as “Chinese, nfd”, which are not languages anyone can order a translation in; they remain inside the headline total.

Need this community reached in its own languages? Talk to us about translation in Knox.