Infants undergo fundamental shifts in perception that are reported to be critical for language acquisition. In particular, infants’ perception of native and non‐native sounds begins to align with the properties of their native sound system. Thus far, empirical evidence for this transition – perceptual narrowing – has drawn from socio‐economically and linguistically narrow populations from limited world regions. In this study, infants were sampled across diverse socio‐economic strata and linguistic development in Singapore. One hundred and 16 infants were tested on their ability to discriminate both a native phonetic contrast (/ba/ versus /da/) and a non‐native Hindi contrast (/ta/ versus /ʈa). Infants ranged in age from 6 to 12 months. Associations between age and discrimination varied by contrast type. Results demonstrated that infants’ native sensitivities were positively predicted by family SES, whereas non‐native sensitivities were not. Maternal socio‐economic factors uniquely predicted native language sensitivity. Findings suggest that infants’ sensitivity to native sound contrasts is influenced by their family socio‐economic status. Research Highlights We investigated effects of socio‐economic status on infant speech perception. Infants were tested on native and non‐native speech discrimination. Socio‐economic status predicted native speech discrimination. Maternal occupation was a key predictor of native speech discrimination. This study investigates the effects of socio‐economic status on infant speech perception. The study demonstrates that family SES, in particular, maternal factors, predicts infants' abilities to distinguish native sounds.