Provided is a liquid crystal composition with which an optically anisotropic layer having excellent light resistance can be formed and an image display device having an excellent contrast can be manufactured, an optically anisotropic layer, an optical film, a polarizing plate, and an image display device. The liquid crystal composition contains a liquid crystal compound and a non-liquid crystal compound, in which both of the liquid crystal compound and the non-liquid crystal compound are compounds having any of aromatic rings selected from the group consisting of groups represented by predetermined formulae, and a ratio of a molecular weight of the non-liquid crystal compound to a molecular weight of the liquid crystal compound is 1 or less.