North Sydney, New South Wales

Languages spoken in North Sydney

North Sydney has no single dominant second language: nearly one in four residents spoke a language other than English at home at the 2021 Census, Mandarin most often. The City of Sydney sits a little above North Sydney. St Leonards has the highest share of any suburb.

Residents
72,094
Speak another language
17,186
Languages at home
98
Change since 2016
+12.1%

Which three languages are most common in North Sydney?

Mandarin

3,502 speakers

The community has grown by more than a quarter since 2016.

Cantonese

2,312 speakers

Spoken at home by 3.2 per cent of residents.

Japanese

1,229 speakers

That's one in 60 residents.

Is North Sydney more or less multilingual than Australia as a whole?

North Sydney's share sits above the national share. Within New South Wales, North Sydney ranks 21st of 128.

North Sydney
23.8%
Australia
21.3%
City of Sydney
33.9%

Each bar uses the same count: residents who named another home language, over all residents.

Every council ranked, North Sydney included.

How does North Sydney's language list break down?

The chip beside each count is the change since 2016. Totals include broad ABS categories like "Chinese, nfd" that the list leaves out.

  1. 013,502+34.8%
  2. 022,312+19.2%
  3. 031,229-8.3%
  4. 041,119+16.2%
  5. 05742+16.9%
  6. 06692+48.2%
  7. 07626-12.3%
  8. 08592+13.4%
  9. 09464-11.5%
  10. 10438+12.9%

What does North Sydney's language mix look like?

  • Grew 50%+
  • 25%+
  • 10%+
  • Held
  • Slipped
  • Declined 10%+
  • Not comparable
The 18 most spoken languages in North Sydney, covering 14,236 speakers. The larger the block, the more speakers; the shade marks growth or decline. Every figure is also in the table below.
  • Grew 50%+
  • 25%+
  • 10%+
  • Held
  • Slipped
  • Declined 10%+
  • Not comparable
The 18 most spoken languages in North Sydney, covering 14,236 speakers. The larger the block, the more speakers; the shade marks growth or decline. Every figure is also in the table below.

What's the fastest-growing language in North Sydney?

Fastest-growing language

Portuguese

+48.2% since 2016

Portuguese has grown by more than a quarter since 2016, the steepest rise of any language that had 150 or more speakers in 2016.

Which suburbs of North Sydney are most multilingual?

The share runs from nearly one in two residents in St Leonards to 12 per cent of residents in Cremorne Point.

Every suburb here has a page of its own.

Where were North Sydney's residents born?

Among residents born overseas, England leads.

Country of birth

38.7% born overseas, across 115 countries.

  1. 01
    England
    4,499-2.3%
  2. 02
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    2,971+33.5%
  3. 03
    New Zealand
    1,869-13.7%
  4. 04
    India
    1,841+17.4%
  5. 05
    Hong Kong (SAR of China)
    1,368+26.1%
  6. 06
    South Africa
    1,286+14.9%
  7. 07
    United States of America
    1,111+2.0%
  8. 08
    Japan
    1,093-5.3%
  9. 09
    Philippines
    855+16.0%
  10. 10
    Malaysia
    755+17.1%

Religious affiliation

Reported affiliation, with the change since 2016.

  1. 01
    No religion or secular beliefs
    34,233+26.5%
  2. 02
    Christianity
    28,616-5.3%
  3. 03
    Hinduism
    2,092+19.5%
  4. 04
    Buddhism
    2,0800%
  5. 05
    Judaism
    722+14.6%
  6. 06
    Islam
    587+7.1%

Where is North Sydney on the language map?

The shading shows how many residents speak a multicultural languageany language other than English at home, on ABS ASGS 2021 boundaries. Compare North Sydney with its neighbours on the full map.

Figures come from the ABS Census of Population and Housing 2021 (language used at home), aggregated from Statistical Area Level 2 to Local Government Area, with 2016 for comparison.

23.8% is the share of all residents who reported a language other than English. The 3,287 who didn't answer aren't counted as speakers. If they were, the share would be 28.4%; among respondents alone it's 25.0%.

National totals here run slightly under ABS published figures, because summing suburbs misses people without a usual address. Broad ABS categories count in the totals but not in the ranked lists.

Reuse these figures under CC BY 4.0 with credit to LEXIGO Language Map.

Reaching these communities in their own languages? Talk to us about translation for North Sydney.