One area where Ashfield differed markedly from the national figures was in its ethnic mix. The most common reported ancestries in Ashfield at the 2016 census were Chinese 19.0%, English 12.7%, Australian 10.6%, Nepalese 6.0% and Irish 5.9%. Australian born residents are also a minority with only 38.7% of Ashfield residents being Australian-born. The most other common countries of birth were China 14.7%, Nepal 7.0%, India 5.1%, Philippines 2.6% and England 1.9%. 39.6% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 14.7%, Nepali 7.2%, Cantonese 5.2%, Italian 2.5% and Thai 1.8%.