diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9ea75c3..6d91d23 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ linting.on("done", () => {
 ## Config
 
 In order to specify what should be linted SVGLint must be given a configuration object.
-If you are using the CLI, this configuration object is read from the file specified by `--config`. This defaults to `.svglintrc.js`, which will be searched for up through the directory tree - this is similar to tools such as ESLint.
+If you are using the CLI, this configuration object is read from the file specified by `--config`. This defaults to `.svglintrc.js`, which will be searched for up through the directory tree, or in the user's home directory (e.g. `~/.svglintrc.js` on Unix-like systems) - this is similar to tools such as ESLint.
 
 This configuration file should export a single object, of the format:
 
diff --git a/src/cli/config.js b/src/cli/config.js
index 06f7ff8..e005f33 100644
--- a/src/cli/config.js
+++ b/src/cli/config.js
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
 import path from "path";
 import fs from "fs";
+import os from "os";
 import process from "process";
 
+import Logger from "../lib/logger.js";
+const logger = Logger("");
+
 /**
  * Check if a file exists
  * @param {String} filepath The file to check for existence
@@ -75,6 +79,21 @@ async function getDefaultConfigurationFileTraversingParents(folder) {
     }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Get the configuration file to use from the home directory.
+ * @returns {Promise<String,Boolean>} The path to the configuration file, or false
+ */
+async function getConfigurationInHomedir() {
+    let filepath;
+
+    const homedirFile = path.join(os.homedir(), ".svglintrc.js");
+    if (await fileExists(homedirFile)) {
+        filepath = homedirFile;
+    }
+
+    return filepath;
+}
+
 /**
  * Get the configuration file to use
  * @param {String} filename The filename to look for
@@ -94,7 +113,12 @@ async function getConfigurationFile(filename, folder) {
         }
     }
 
-    return await getDefaultConfigurationFileTraversingParents(folder);
+    filepath = await getDefaultConfigurationFileTraversingParents(folder);
+    if (filepath) {
+        return filepath;
+    }
+
+    return await getConfigurationInHomedir();
 }
 
 /**
@@ -104,6 +128,7 @@ async function getConfigurationFile(filename, folder) {
  */
 async function loadConfigurationFile(filename, folder=process.cwd()) {
     const filepath = await getConfigurationFile(filename, folder);
+    logger.debug("Using configuration file: " + filepath);
     if (filepath) {
         const module = await import(`file://${filepath}`);
         return module.default;