Mandarin
29,301 speakers
Mandarin is spoken by 29,301 of our residents at home, 11.9% of Parramatta.
We are Parramatta
56 per cent.
Nearly 56 in every 100 Parramatta residents speak a language other than English at home. It is among the highest shares of any council in New South Wales.
- Our population
- 246,051
- Speak another language
- 136,798
- Languages at home
- 142
- Growth since last census
- +21.3%
Our neighbourhoods run in Mandarin, Cantonese and Korean as readily as they do in English. 137k of us speak a language other than English at home — a higher share than almost anywhere else in the country, and the ordinary condition of daily life here rather than an exception to it.
In New South Wales
#6
of 128 New South Wales councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #25 of 540 nationally.
What makes our community ours
Cantonese
15,271 speakers
Cantonese is spoken by 15,271 of our residents at home, 6.2% of Parramatta.
Korean
13,072 speakers
Korean is spoken by 13,072 of our residents at home, 5.3% of Parramatta.
The languages of Parramatta
142 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
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.
Fastest-growing among us
Nepali
+159.1% since last census
We share this portrait because Parramatta is, genuinely, not an “average” council — the share here is 2.2 times the New South Wales figure. Services designed for the median New South Wales 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.
Nepali grew 159.1% since the last census, to 3,448 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
51.9% of us were born overseas, across 153 countries.
- 01India31,374+25.1%
- 02China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)26,666+21.4%
- 03Korea, Republic of (South)10,153+19.4%
- 04Hong Kong (SAR of China)5,392+17.6%
- 05Philippines4,676+32.5%
- 06Sri Lanka3,480-7.7%
- 07Nepal3,448+183%
- 08Iran3,381+24.2%
- 09England3,229-4.7%
- 10New Zealand2,947-3.6%
What we believe
Reported affiliation in Parramatta at the 2021 Census, with the change since 2016.
- 01Christianity97,221-1.1%
- 02No religion or secular beliefs73,216+35.6%
- 03Hinduism35,186+29.3%
- 04Islam13,916+49.1%
- 05Buddhism9,401+13.1%
- 06Judaism119+33.7%
Our suburbs
Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 24 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.
- Clyde (NSW)Top language — Mandarin100%8
- Harris ParkTop language — Gujarati75%3,935
- WestmeadTop language — Hindi71%11,430
- ParramattaTop language — Hindi68%19,495
- Rosehill (NSW)Top language — Gujarati67%2,794
- Epping (NSW)Top language — Mandarin65%19,065
- CarlingfordTop language — Mandarin63%17,584
- Wentworth PointTop language — Mandarin62%7,790
- Silverwater (Parramatta - NSW)Top language — Korean62%1,375
- TelopeaTop language — Mandarin59%3,201
- Toongabbie (NSW)Top language — Tamil54%8,506
- Newington (NSW)Top language — Korean52%2,926
- Sydney Olympic ParkTop language — Mandarin51%3,130
- Dundas ValleyTop language — Mandarin50%2,940
- Dundas (NSW)Top language — Mandarin48%2,267
- RydalmereTop language — Mandarin46%3,216
- ErmingtonTop language — Mandarin46%5,723
- North ParramattaTop language — Arabic45%5,399
- Oatlands (NSW)Top language — Arabic44%2,582
- North RocksTop language — Mandarin42%3,830
- Constitution HillTop language — Arabic41%1,795
- NorthmeadTop language — Mandarin32%3,684
- Winston HillsTop language — Arabic28%3,349
- Old ToongabbieTop language — Arabic28%774
- 24 suburbs in Parramatta. Percentage is residents speaking a language other than English at home; the figure beneath it is how many people that is.
Where we are
Parramatta 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
- Parramatta
- 55.6%
- New South Wales
- 25.7%
- Australia
- 21.3%
55.6% of Parramatta residents speak a language other than English at home, against 25.7% for New South Wales 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. 55.6% is 136,798 residents as a share of all 246,051 of us. A further 13,357 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 61.0%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 58.8%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Parramatta, 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 Parramatta 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 Parramatta.