We are Strathfield

66 per cent.

Nearly 66 in every 100 Strathfield residents speak a language other than English at home. It is among the highest shares of any council in New South Wales.

Our population
49,358
Speak another language
32,783
Languages at home
101
Growth since last census
+13.0%

Our neighbourhoods run in Mandarin, Nepali and Cantonese as readily as they do in English. 33k 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

#2

of 128 New South Wales councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #16 of 540 nationally.

What makes our community ours

Mandarin

5,441 speakers

Mandarin is spoken by 5,441 of our residents at home, 11.0% of Strathfield.

Nepali

5,175 speakers

Nepali is spoken by 5,175 of our residents at home, 10.5% of Strathfield.

Cantonese

3,372 speakers

Cantonese is spoken by 3,372 of our residents at home, 6.8% of Strathfield.

The languages of Strathfield

101 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 Strathfield, covering 29,492 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
    5,441+7.5%
  2. 02
    Nepali
    5,175+145%
  3. 03
    Cantonese
    3,372+3.1%
  4. 04
    Korean
    3,358-19.5%
  5. 05
    Tamil
    2,303-6.4%
  6. 06
    Arabic
    1,668+22.3%
  7. 07
    Telugu
    1,663+23.9%
  8. 08
    Hindi
    1,548-5.0%
  9. 09
    Vietnamese
    1,256+35.5%
  10. 10
    Urdu
    569+34.8%

Fastest-growing among us

Nepali

+144.8% since last census

We share this portrait because Strathfield is, genuinely, not an “average” council — the share here is 2.6 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 144.8% since the last census, to 5,175 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

61.4% of us were born overseas, across 112 countries.

  1. 01
    India
    5,883+9.2%
  2. 02
    Nepal
    5,319+158%
  3. 03
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    5,087+1.9%
  4. 04
    Korea, Republic of (South)
    2,870-23.1%
  5. 05
    Sri Lanka
    1,259-12.6%
  6. 06
    Vietnam
    1,252+17.9%
  7. 07
    Hong Kong (SAR of China)
    880+4.1%
  8. 08
    Philippines
    773+26.5%
  9. 09
    Malaysia
    643+53.1%
  10. 10
    Lebanon
    518+14.3%

What we believe

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

  1. 01
    Christianity
    16,696-1.4%
  2. 02
    No religion or secular beliefs
    12,779+20.3%
  3. 03
    Hinduism
    11,425+37.8%
  4. 04
    Buddhism
    3,356+22.0%
  5. 05
    Islam
    2,153+46.2%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    15-62.5%

Our suburbs

Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 4 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.

Where we are

Strathfield 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

Strathfield
66.4%
New South Wales
25.7%
Australia
21.3%

66.4% of Strathfield 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. 66.4% is 32,783 residents as a share of all 49,358 of us. A further 2,878 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 72.2%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 70.5%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Strathfield, 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 Strathfield 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 Strathfield.