Languages of The United States - Census Statistics

Census Statistics

Language Spoken at Home
(U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2005)
List
  • English only – 80.60%
  • Spanish – 12.03%
  • Chinese – 0.57%
  • Tagalog – 0.51%
  • French – 0.49%
  • Vietnamese – 0.42%
  • German – 0.41%
  • Korean – 0.37%
  • Russian – 0.31%
  • Italian – 0.29%
  • Arabic – 0.25%
  • Portuguese – 0.24%
  • Polish – 0.22%
  • French Creole – 0.20%
  • Hindi – 0.17%
  • Japanese – 0.17%
  • Cantonese – 0.13%
  • Persian – 0.12%
  • Greek – 0.12%
  • Urdu – 0.11%
  • Mandarin – 0.10%
  • Tamil – 0.10%
  • Gujarati – 0.09%
  • Punjabi – 0.07%
  • Kru, Igbo, Yoruba – 0.07%
  • Armenian – 0.07%
  • Mon–Khmer, Cambodian – 0.07%
  • Hebrew – 0.07%
  • Hmong – 0.06%
  • Navajo – 0.06%
  • Laotian – 0.06%
Language Spoken at Home
(U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2009)
List
  • English only – 228 699 523
  • Spanish – 35 468 501
  • Chinese – 2 600 150
  • Tagalog – 1 513 734
  • French – 1 305 503
  • Vietnamese – 1 251 468
  • German – 1 109 216
  • Korean – 1 039 021
  • Russian – 881 723
  • Arabic – 845 396
  • Italian – 753 992
  • Portuguese – 731 282
  • Other Indian Languages – 668 596
  • French Creole – 659 053
  • Polish – 593 598
  • Hindi – 560 983
  • Armenian – 498 700
  • Japanese – 445 471
  • Persian – 396 769
  • Urdu – 355 964
  • Greek – 325 747
  • Hebrew – 221 593
  • Mon–Khmer, Cambodian – 202 033
  • Hmong – 193 179
  • Navajo – 169 009
  • Thai – 152 679
  • Laotian – 146 297

According to the 2000 census, the main languages by number of speakers older than five are:

  1. English – 215 million
  2. Spanish – 28 million
  3. Chinese languages – 2.0 million + (mostly Cantonese speakers, with a growing group of Mandarin speakers)
  4. French – 1.6 million
  5. German – 1.4 million (High German) + German dialects like Hutterite German, Texas German, Pennsylvania German, Plautdietsch
  6. Tagalog – 1.2 million + (Most Filipinos may also know other Philippine languages, e.g. Ilokano, Pangasinan, Bikol languages, and Visayan languages)
  7. Vietnamese – 1.0 million
  8. Italian – 1.0 million
  9. Korean – 890,000
  10. Russian – 710,000
  11. Polish – 670,000
  12. Arabic – 610,000
  13. Portuguese – 560,000
  14. Japanese – 480,000
  15. French Creole – 450,000 (mostly Louisiana Creole French – 334,500)
  16. Greek – 370,000
  17. Hindi – 320,000
  18. Persian – 310,000
  19. Urdu – 260,000
  20. Gujarati – 240,000
  21. Armenian – 200,000
Languages in United States of America
Languages
English   80%
Spanish   12.3%
Chinese Languages   2.3%
French   0.5%
Native American Languages   0.9%
Hawallian Language   0.2%
Other European languages   2.2%
Indian Languages   1.6%
Other Languages   0.1%

Additionally, modern estimates indicate that American Sign Language is signed by as many as 500,000 Americans.

Read more about this topic:  Languages Of The United States

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