It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the Municipality of Strathfield.

The Strathfield district lies between the Concord Plains to the north and the Cooks River to the south, and was originally occupied by the Wangal clan.

In 1808, a grant was made to James Wilshire, which forms the largest part of the current suburb of Strathfield.

[2] Wiltshire's 1 square kilometre (0.39 sq mi) grant by Governor Macquarie in 1808 [regranted 1810] followed representations from Lord Nelson, a relation by marriage of Wilshire.

An early buyer was one-time Mayor of Sydney, Walter Renny who built in 1868 a house they called Stratfieldsaye, possibly after the Duke of Wellington's mansion near Reading, Berkshire.

According to local historian Cathy Jones, "ownership of [Stratfieldsaye] was transferred several times including to Davidson Nichol, who shortened the name to 'Strathfield House', then 'Strathfield'.

"[4][5] In 1877, development had progressed sufficiently to justify the addition of a halt on the railway line at Redmyre, east of existing Homebush station.

"Strathfield" as a geographical name was first established when Strathfield Council was proclaimed on 2 June 1885 by the Governor of NSW, Sir Augustus Loftus, after residents of the Redmire area petitioned the New South Wales State government for the establishment of local government.

Strathfield Council was incorporated in 1885 and included parts of the then-established suburbs of Redmire, Homebush and Druitt Town.

Members of Sydney's business elite, such as the family of William Arnott and David Jones, built various large homes in Strathfield.

Page, for example, chose to live in Strathfield because of its direct rail services to Melbourne, then the seat of federal parliament, and his electorate on the north coast of New South Wales.

Following the introduction of the Local Government Act in 1919, Strathfield Council was one of the first to proclaim the major part of its area a residential district by proclamation in 1920.

[12] More significant commercial development took place in the last quarter of the 20th century, with a "modern" shopping centre, Strathfield Plaza, opening in 1981, accompanied by the first high rise residential apartment building in the suburb.

Arnottholme at 65-69 Albert Road, Strathfield, the former home of William Arnott was for many years owned by the NSW Department of Education until its sale in 2022 for $7,700,000.

Of the top 20 most expensive post code areas (all of which are in metropolitan Sydney), Strathfield was the only one which was located outside the Eastern Suburbs, North Shore or Northern Beaches regions.

Primarily these have been replaced by modern, multimillion-dollar mansions, although Strathfield has retained its wide avenues and most of the extensive natural vegetation.

In the vicinity of Homebush Road, a number of noted tree-lined avenues follow an oblique street pattern established by the development of the Village of Homebush in the late 19th century, and are noted for the grand, historic houses built in the late 19th and early 20th centursies.

Additionally, decreasing land sizes through subdivision has led to an increase in residential densities, reflecting the outward expansion of Sydney's inner city.

In the last century a number of grand Strathfield homes became independent school campuses: Strathfield's commercial town centre is centred on a town square south of the station, and includes the Strathfield Plaza shopping centre which includes Woolworths and other stores, as well as a large number of cafes, restaurants and other stores located around the square and along Albert Road, Churchill Avenue, Redmyre Road and the Boulevarde.

The Hume Highway links Strathfield east to Ashfield, where it joins Parramatta Road, and west to Bankstown, Liverpool, Canberra and Melbourne.

Two local arterial routes serving the Inner West, formed by Concord Road-Raw Square-The Boulevarde (north-south, formerly part of Metroad 3 and State Route 27) and Beresford Road-Albert Road-Redmyre Road-Morwick Street (west-east), join and intersect in central Strathfield in a complex pattern.

The availability of a fast and convenient rail connection to many parts of Sydney and the development of high density residential blocks near the station have made Strathfield's town centre an attractive place to live for successive waves of temporary and permanent migrants in recent decades.

Indie pop legend Grant McLennan of The Go-Betweens also called Carrington Avenue, Strathfield home for a few years in the 1990s.

On 17 August 1991, seven people were killed, when Wade Frankum stabbed a fifteen-year-old girl to death, before running amok with a rifle in the Strathfield Plaza shopping mall, and then turning the weapon on himself.