diff --git a/bin/asdf b/bin/asdf
index f2614259e..34e0d83fc 100755
--- a/bin/asdf
+++ b/bin/asdf
@@ -81,6 +81,17 @@ asdf_cmd() {
   ASDF_DIR=$(asdf_dir)
   export ASDF_DIR
 
+  if [ "$1" = '--internal-get-asdf-config-file' ]; then
+    printf '%s\n' "$ASDF_CONFIG_FILE"
+    exit 0
+  elif [ "$1" = '--internal-get-asdf-data-dir' ]; then
+    printf '%s\n' "$ASDF_DATA_DIR"
+    exit 0
+  elif [ "$1" = '--internal-get-asdf-dir' ]; then
+    printf '%s\n' "$ASDF_DIR"
+    exit 0
+  fi
+
   local result=
   result="$(find_asdf_cmd "$@")"
   ASDF_CMD_FILE=${result% *}
diff --git a/completions/_asdf b/completions/_asdf
index f65733547..f91650375 100755
--- a/completions/_asdf
+++ b/completions/_asdf
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 #description tool to manage versions of multiple runtimes
 
 local curcontext="$curcontext" state state_descr line subcmd
-local asdf_dir="${ASDF_DATA_DIR:-$HOME/.asdf}"
+local asdf_dir=
+asdf_dir=$(asdf --internal-get-asdf-dir)
 
 local -a asdf_commands
 asdf_commands=( # 'asdf help' lists commands with help text
diff --git a/lib/utils.bash b/lib/utils.bash
index c52470b3d..70fbf4d55 100644
--- a/lib/utils.bash
+++ b/lib/utils.bash
@@ -21,21 +21,29 @@ asdf_tool_versions_filename() {
 }
 
 asdf_config_file() {
-  printf '%s\n' "${ASDF_CONFIG_FILE:-$HOME/.asdfrc}"
+  if [ -n "$ASDF_CONFIG_FILE" ]; then
+    printf '%s\n' "$ASDF_CONFIG_FILE"
+  elif [ -f "$HOME/.asdfrc" ]; then
+    printf '%s\n' "$HOME/.asdfrc"
+  elif [ "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME::1}" = '/' ]; then
+    printf '%s\n' "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/asdf/asdfrc"
+  else
+    printf '%s\n' "$HOME/.config/asdf/asdfrc"
+  fi
 }
 
 asdf_data_dir() {
   local data_dir
 
   if [ -n "${ASDF_DATA_DIR}" ]; then
-    data_dir="${ASDF_DATA_DIR}"
-  elif [ -n "$HOME" ]; then
-    data_dir="$HOME/.asdf"
+    printf '%s\n' "${ASDF_DATA_DIR}"
+  elif [ -d "$HOME/.asdf" ]; then
+    printf '%s\n' "$HOME/.asdf"
+  elif [ "${XDG_DATA_HOME::1}" = '/' ]; then
+    printf '%s\n' "$XDG_DATA_HOME/asdf"
   else
-    data_dir=$(asdf_dir)
+    printf '%s\n' "$HOME/.local/state/asdf"
   fi
-
-  printf "%s\n" "$data_dir"
 }
 
 asdf_dir() {