The ability to communicate with government and private service providers, schools,

businesses, emergency

personnel, and many

other people in the

United States depends

greatly on the ability to

speak English.1 In

Census 2000, as in the

two previous censuses,

the U.S. Census Bureau

asked people aged 5

and over if they spoke

a language other than

English at home.

Among the 262.4 million people aged 5 and

over, 47.0 million 

(18 percent) spoke a

language other than

English at home.

This report, part of a series that presents

population and housing data collected in

Census 2000, presents data on language

spoken at home and the ability to speak

English of people aged 5 and over. It

describes population distributions and

characteristics for the United States,

including regions, states, counties, and

selected places with populations of

100,000 or more.

The questions illustrated in Figure 1 were

asked in the census in 1980, 1990, and 

2000. Various questions on language

were asked in the censuses from 1890 to

1970, including a question on “mother

tongue” (the language spoken in the person’s home when he or she was a child).

The first language question in Census

2000 asked respondents whether they

spoke a language other than English at

home. Those who responded “Yes” to

Question 11a were asked what language

they spoke. The write-in answers to

Question 11b (specific language spoken)

were optically scanned and coded.

Although linguists recognize several

thousand languages in the world, the

coding operation used by the Census

Bureau put the reported languages into

U S C E N S U S B U R E A U

Helping You Make Informed Decisions

U.S.Department of Commerce

Economics and Statistics Administration

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

Issued October 2003

C2KBR-29

Language Use and 

English-Speaking Ability: 2000

Census 2000 Brief

By 

Hyon B. Shin

with

Rosalind Bruno

a. Does this person speak a language other than

English at home?

Yes

No Skip to 12

b. What is this language?

(For example: Korean, Italian, Spanish, Vietnamese)

c. How well does this person speak English?

Very well

Well

Not well

Not at all

Figure 1.

Reproduction of the Questions on 

Language From Census 2000 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 questionnaire.

11

1 The text of this report discusses data for the

United States, including the 50 states and the

District of Columbia. Data for the Commonwealth of

Puerto Rico are shown in Table 2 and Figure 5.
2 U.S. Census Bureau

about 380 categories of single languages or language families.2

For people who answered “Yes” to

Question 11a, Question 11c asked

respondents to indicate how well

they spoke English. Respondents

who said they spoke English “Very

well” were considered to have no

difficulty with English. Those who

indicated they spoke English “Well,”

“Not well,” or “Not at all” were considered to have difficulty with

English — identified also as people

who spoke English less than 

“Very well.”

The number and percentage 

of people in the United States

who spoke a language other

than English at home increased

between 1990 and 2000.

In 2000, 18 percent of the total

population aged 5 and over, or 

47.0 million people, reported they

spoke a language other than

English at home.3 These figures

were up from 14 percent (31.8 million) in 1990 and 11 percent 

(23.1 million) in 1980. The number

of people who spoke a language

other than English at home grew by

38 percent in the 1980s and by 

47 percent in the 1990s. While the

population aged 5 and over grew

by one-fourth from 1980 to 2000,

the number who spoke a language

other than English at home more

than doubled.

In 2000, most people who spoke a

language other than English at

home reported they spoke English

“Very well” (55 percent or 

2 More detailed information on languages

and language coding can be found in

“Summary File 3: 2000 Census of Population

and Housing Technical Documentation” issued

December 2002 (www.census.gov/prod

/cen2000/doc/sf3.pdf). 3 The estimates in this report are based on

responses from a sample of the population.

As with all surveys, estimates may vary from

the actual values because of sampling variation or other factors. All statements made in

this report have undergone statistical testing

and are significant at the 90-percent confidence level unless otherwise noted.

Figure 2.

Speakers of Languages Other Than English at Home

and English Ability by Language Group: 2000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 3.

(Population 5 years and over, in millions. Data based on sample. For 

information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, sampling 

error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf3.pdf)

Spoke English "Very well"

Spoke English less than "Very well"

All other

languages

Asian and Pacific

Island languages

Other Indo-European

languages

Spanish 14.3

6.6

3.4

13.8

3.4

3.6

1.3 0.6 1.9

28.1

10.0

7.0

Figure 3.

Ten Languages Most Frequently Spoken at Home 

Other Than English and Spanish: 2000

1

 The number of Vietnamese speakers and the number of Italian speakers were not

statistically different from one another.

Note: The estimates in this figure vary from actual values due to sampling errors. As

a result, the number of speakers of some languages shown in this figure may not be 

statistically different from the number of speakers of languages not shown in this figure.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 3.

(Population 5 years and over, in millions. Data based on sample. For 

information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, sampling 

error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf3.pdf)

Arabic

Polish

Russian

Korean

Italian1

Vietnamese1

Tagalog

German

French

Chinese

0.6

2.0

1.6

1.4

1.2

1.0

1.0

0.9

0.7

0.7
25.6 million people). When they

are combined with those who

spoke only English at home, 

92 percent of the population aged

5 and over had no difficulty speaking English. The proportion of the

population aged 5 and over who

spoke English less than “Very well”

grew from 4.8 percent in 1980, to

6.1 percent in 1990, and to 8.1

percent in 2000.

In Figure 2, the number of speakers of the four major language

groups (Spanish, Other IndoEuropean languages, Asian and

Pacific Island languages, and All

other languages) are shown by

how well they spoke English (see

text box above). Spanish was the

largest of the four major language

groups, and just over half of the

28.1 million Spanish speakers

spoke English “Very well.”

Other Indo-European language

speakers composed the second

largest group, with 10.0 million

speakers, almost two-thirds of

whom spoke English “Very well.”

Slightly less than half of the 

7.0 million Asian and Pacific Islandlanguage speakers spoke English

“Very well” (3.4 million). Of the 

1.9 million people who composed

the All other language category, 

1.3 million spoke English 

“Very well.”

After English and Spanish, Chinese

was the language most commonly

spoken at home (2.0 million speakers), followed by French (1.6 million speakers) and German 

(1.4 million speakers, see Figure 3).

Reflecting historical patterns of

immigration, the numbers of

Italian, Polish, and German speakers fell between 1990 and 2000,

while the number of speakers of

many other languages increased. 

Spanish speakers grew by about 

60 percent and Spanish continued to

be the non-English language most

frequently spoken at home in the

United States. The Chinese language, however, jumped from the

fifth to the second most widely spoken non-English language, as the

number of Chinese speakers rose

from 1.2 to 2.0 million people (see

Table 1).4 The number of Vietnamese speakers doubled over the

decade, from about 507,000 speakers to just over 1 million speakers.

Of the 20 non-English languages

most frequently spoken at home

shown in Table 1, the largest proportional increase was for Russian

speakers, who nearly tripled from

242,000 to 706,000. The second

largest increase was for French

Creole speakers (the language

group that includes Haitian

Creoles), whose numbers more than

doubled from 188,000 to 453,000.

THE GEOGRAPHIC

DISTRIBUTION OF PEOPLE

WHO SPOKE A LANGUAGE

OTHER THAN ENGLISH 

AT HOME

This section discusses the geographic distribution of the population aged 5 and over who stated in

Census 2000 that they spoke a language other than English at home.

The West had the greatest

number and proportion of nonEnglish-language speakers.5

People who spoke languages other

than English at home were not distributed equally across or within

regions in 2000.6 While the West

U.S. Census Bureau 3

Four Major Language Groups

Spanish includes those who speak Ladino.

Other Indo-European languages include most languages of

Europe and the Indic languages of India. These include the Germanic

languages, such as German, Yiddish, and Dutch; the Scandinavian

languages, such as Swedish and Norwegian; the Romance languages,

such as French, Italian, and Portuguese; the Slavic languages, such as

Russian, Polish, and Serbo-Croatian; the Indic languages, such as

Hindi, Gujarathi, Punjabi, and Urdu; Celtic languages; Greek; Baltic

languages; and Iranian languages. 

Asian and Pacific Island languages include Chinese; Korean;

Japanese; Vietnamese; Hmong; Khmer; Lao; Thai; Tagalog or Pilipino;

the Dravidian languages of India, such as Telegu, Tamil, and

Malayalam; and other languages of Asia and the Pacific, including 

the Philippine, Polynesian, and Micronesian languages.

All other languages include Uralic languages, such as Hungarian;

the Semitic languages, such as Arabic and Hebrew; languages of

Africa; native North American languages, including the American

Indian and Alaska native languages; and some indigenous languages

of Central and South America. 

4 The changes in ranks between 1990

and 2000 have not been tested and may not

be statistically significant. 5 Hereafter, this report uses the term

“non-English-language speakers” to refer to

people who spoke a language other than

English at home, regardless of their ability to

speak English (see Table 1). 6 The Northeast region includes the states

of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New

Hampshire, New Jersey, New York,

Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The

Midwest region includes the states of Illinois,

Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota,

Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio,

South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The South

region includes the states of Alabama,

Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia,

Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi,

North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina,

Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and

the District of Columbia, a state equivalent.

The West region includes the states of Alaska,

Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho,

Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah,

Washington, and Wyoming.
had only slightly more than 

one-fifth of the U.S. population

aged 5 and over, it was home to

more than one-third (37 percent) of

all non-English-language speakers,

the highest proportion of any

region (see Table 2). Within

regions, the proportion who spoke

a non-English language at home

was 29 percent in the West, 

20 percent in the Northeast, 

15 percent in the South, and only

9 percent in the Midwest.

Reflecting the higher proportion of

speakers of non-English languages

in the West, people in that region

were more likely than those in the

other regions to have difficulty

with English. In 2000, 14 percent

of all people aged 5 and over in

the West spoke English less than

“Very well” — compared with 

9 percent in the Northeast, 7 percent in the South, and 4 percent in

the Midwest.

Figure 4 illustrates the prevalence

of the four major non-Englishlanguage groups spoken in each

region. Spanish was spoken more

than any other language group in

all regions. The West and the South

combined had about three times

the number of Spanish speakers

(21.0 million) as the Northeast and

the Midwest combined (7.1 million).

In the Northeast and the Midwest,

Spanish speakers composed slightly

less than half of all non-English-language speakers, while in the South

and the West, they represented

around two-thirds (71 percent and

64 percent, respectively), in large

part because of the geographic

proximity to Mexico and other

Spanish-speaking countries.

4 U.S. Census Bureau

Table 1.

Twenty Languages Most Frequently Spoken at Home by English Ability for the

Population 5 Years and Over: 1990 and 2000

(Data based on sample. For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see

www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf3.pdf)

Language spoken

at home

1990 2000

Rank

Number of

speakers Rank

Number of speakers

Total

English-speaking ability

Very well Well Not well Not at all

United States . . . . . . (X) 230,445,777 (X) 262,375,152 (X) (X) (X) (X)

English only . . . . . . . . . . . (X) 198,600,798 (X) 215,423,557 (X) (X) (X) (X)

Total non-English . . . . . . (X) 31,844,979 (X) 46,951,595 25,631,188 10,333,556 7,620,719 3,366,132

Spanish ................ 1 17,339,172 1 28,101,052 14,349,796 5,819,408 5,130,400 2,801,448

Chinese ................ 5 1,249,213 2 2,022,143 855,689 595,331 408,597 162,526

French ................. 2 1,702,176 3 1,643,838 1,228,800 269,458 138,002 7,578

German . . .............. 3 1,547,099 4 1,382,613 1,078,997 219,362 79,535 4,719

Tagalog ................ 6 843,251 5 1,224,241 827,559 311,465 79,721 5,496

Vietnamese1 ............ 9 507,069 6 1,009,627 342,594 340,062 270,950 56,021

Italian1 ................. 4 1,308,648 7 1,008,370 701,220 195,901 99,270 11,979

Korean................. 8 626,478 8 894,063 361,166 268,477 228,392 36,028

Russian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 241,798 9 706,242 304,891 209,057 148,671 43,623

Polish.................. 7 723,483 10 667,414 387,694 167,233 95,032 17,455

Arabic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 355,150 11 614,582 403,397 140,057 58,595 12,533

Portuguese2 . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 429,860 12 564,630 320,443 125,464 90,412 28,311

Japanese2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 427,657 13 477,997 241,707 146,613 84,018 5,659

French Creole . . . . . . . . . . 19 187,658 14 453,368 245,857 121,913 70,961 14,637

Greek. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 388,260 15 365,436 262,851 65,023 33,346 4,216

Hindi3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 331,484 16 317,057 245,192 51,929 16,682 3,254

Persian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 201,865 17 312,085 198,041 70,909 32,959 10,176

Urdu3 .................. (NA) (NA) 18 262,900 180,018 56,736 20,817 5,329

Gujarathi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 102,418 19 235,988 155,011 50,637 22,522 7,818

Armenian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 149,694 20 202,708 108,554 48,469 31,868 13,817

All other languages . . . . . . (X) 3,182,546 (X) 4,485,241 2,831,711 1,060,052 479,969 113,509

NA Not available. X Not applicable.

1 In 2000, the number of Vietnamese speakers and the number of Italian speakers were not statistically different from one another. 2 In 1990, the number of Portuguese speakers and the number of Japanese speakers were not statistically different from one another. 3 In 1990, Hindi included those who spoke Urdu.

Note: The estimates in this table vary from actual values due to sampling errors. As a result, the number of speakers of some languages shown in this table

may not be statistically different from the number of speakers of languages not shown in this table.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 3.
U.S. Census Bureau 5

Table 2.

Language Use and English-Speaking Ability for the Population 5 Years and Over for the

United States, Regions, and States and for Puerto Rico: 1990 and 2000

(Data based on sample. For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see

www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf3.pdf)

Area

1990 2000

Population

5 years

and over

Spoke a

language

other than

English

at home Percent

Population

5 years

and over

Spoke a

language

other than

English

at home Percent

Spoke

English

less than

‘‘Very well’’ Percent

1990

and

2000

percent

change in

‘‘Spoke a

language

other than

English at

home’’

United States .... 230,445,777 31,844,979 13.8 262,375,152 46,951,595 17.9 21,320,407 8.1 47.4

Region

Northeast ............ 47,319,352 7,824,285 16.5 50,224,209 10,057,331 20.0 4,390,538 8.7 28.5

Midwest ............. 55,272,756 3,920,660 7.1 60,054,144 5,623,538 9.4 2,398,120 4.0 43.4

South ............... 79,248,852 8,669,631 10.9 93,431,879 14,007,396 15.0 6,149,756 6.6 61.6

West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48,604,817 11,430,403 23.5 58,664,920 17,263,330 29.4 8,381,993 14.3 51.0

State

Alabama............. 3,759,802 107,866 2.9 4,152,278 162,483 3.9 63,917 1.5 50.6

Alaska............... 495,425 60,165 12.1 579,740 82,758 14.3 30,842 5.3 37.6

Arizona .............. 3,374,806 700,287 20.8 4,752,724 1,229,237 25.9 539,937 11.4 75.5

Arkansas ............ 2,186,665 60,781 2.8 2,492,205 123,755 5.0 57,709 2.3 103.6

California ............ 27,383,547 8,619,334 31.5 31,416,629 12,401,756 39.5 6,277,779 20.0 43.9

Colorado............. 3,042,986 320,631 10.5 4,006,285 604,019 15.1 267,504 6.7 88.4

Connecticut .......... 3,060,000 466,175 15.2 3,184,514 583,913 18.3 234,799 7.4 25.3

Delaware ............ 617,720 42,327 6.9 732,378 69,533 9.5 28,380 3.9 64.3

District of Columbia.... 570,284 71,348 12.5 539,658 90,417 16.8 38,236 7.1 26.7

Florida .............. 12,095,284 2,098,315 17.3 15,043,603 3,473,864 23.1 1,554,865 10.3 65.6

Georgia ............. 5,984,188 284,546 4.8 7,594,476 751,438 9.9 374,251 4.9 164.1

Hawaii............... 1,026,209 254,724 24.8 1,134,351 302,125 26.6 143,505 12.7 18.6

Idaho ............... 926,703 58,995 6.4 1,196,793 111,879 9.3 46,539 3.9 89.6

Illinois ............... 10,585,838 1,499,112 14.2 11,547,505 2,220,719 19.2 1,054,722 9.1 48.1

Indiana .............. 5,146,160 245,826 4.8 5,657,818 362,082 6.4 143,427 2.5 47.3

Iowa ................ 2,583,526 100,391 3.9 2,738,499 160,022 5.8 68,108 2.5 59.4

Kansas .............. 2,289,615 131,604 5.7 2,500,360 218,655 8.7 98,207 3.9 66.1

Kentucky ............ 3,434,955 86,482 2.5 3,776,230 148,473 3.9 58,871 1.6 71.7

Louisiana ............ 3,886,353 391,994 10.1 4,153,367 382,364 9.2 116,907 2.8 –2.5

Maine ............... 1,142,122 105,441 9.2 1,204,164 93,966 7.8 24,063 2.0 –10.9

Maryland ............ 4,425,285 395,051 8.9 4,945,043 622,714 12.6 246,287 5.0 57.6

Massachusetts........ 5,605,751 852,228 15.2 5,954,249 1,115,570 18.7 459,073 7.7 30.9

Michigan............. 8,594,737 569,807 6.6 9,268,782 781,381 8.4 294,606 3.2 37.1

Minnesota ........... 4,038,361 227,161 5.6 4,591,491 389,988 8.5 167,511 3.6 71.7

Mississippi ........... 2,378,805 66,516 2.8 2,641,453 95,522 3.6 36,059 1.4 43.6

Missouri ............. 4,748,704 178,210 3.8 5,226,022 264,281 5.1 103,019 2.0 48.3

Montana ............. 740,218 37,020 5.0 847,362 44,331 5.2 12,663 1.5 19.7

Nebraska ............ 1,458,904 69,872 4.8 1,594,700 125,654 7.9 57,772 3.6 79.8

Nevada. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,110,450 146,152 13.2 1,853,720 427,972 23.1 207,687 11.2 192.8

New Hampshire....... 1,024,621 88,796 8.7 1,160,340 96,088 8.3 28,073 2.4 8.2

New Jersey .......... 7,200,696 1,406,148 19.5 7,856,268 2,001,690 25.5 873,088 11.1 42.4

New Mexico .......... 1,390,048 493,999 35.5 1,689,911 616,964 36.5 201,055 11.9 24.9

New York . . . . . . . . . . . . 16,743,048 3,908,720 23.3 17,749,110 4,962,921 28.0 2,310,256 13.0 27.0

North Carolina ........ 6,172,301 240,866 3.9 7,513,165 603,517 8.0 297,858 4.0 150.6

North Dakota ......... 590,839 46,897 7.9 603,106 37,976 6.3 11,003 1.8 –19.0

Ohio ................ 10,063,212 546,148 5.4 10,599,968 648,493 6.1 234,459 2.2 18.7

Oklahoma............ 2,921,755 145,798 5.0 3,215,719 238,532 7.4 98,990 3.1 63.6

Oregon .............. 2,640,482 191,710 7.3 3,199,323 388,669 12.1 188,958 5.9 102.7

Pennsylvania ......... 11,085,170 806,876 7.3 11,555,538 972,484 8.4 368,257 3.2 20.5

Rhode Island ......... 936,423 159,492 17.0 985,184 196,624 20.0 83,624 8.5 23.3

South Carolina........ 3,231,539 113,163 3.5 3,748,669 196,429 5.2 82,279 2.2 73.6

South Dakota......... 641,226 41,994 6.5 703,820 45,575 6.5 16,376 2.3 (NS)

Tennessee ........... 4,544,743 131,550 2.9 5,315,920 256,516 4.8 108,265 2.0 95.0

Texas ............... 15,605,822 3,970,304 25.4 19,241,518 6,010,753 31.2 2,669,603 13.9 51.4

Utah ................ 1,553,351 120,404 7.8 2,023,875 253,249 12.5 105,691 5.2 110.3

Vermont ............. 521,521 30,409 5.8 574,842 34,075 5.9 9,305 1.6 (NS)

Virginia .............. 5,746,419 418,521 7.3 6,619,266 735,191 11.1 303,729 4.6 75.7

Washington .......... 4,501,879 403,173 9.0 5,501,398 770,886 14.0 350,914 6.4 91.2

West Virginia ......... 1,686,932 44,203 2.6 1,706,931 45,895 2.7 13,550 0.8 3.8

Wisconsin............ 4,531,134 263,638 5.8 5,022,073 368,712 7.3 148,910 3.0 39.9

Wyoming ............ 418,713 23,809 5.7 462,809 29,485 6.4 8,919 1.9 23.8

Puerto Rico ......... 3,522,037 (NA) (NA) 3,515,228 3,008,567 85.6 2,527,156 71.9 (NA)

NA Not available. NS Not statistically different from zero at the 90-percent confidence level.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 3 and 1990 Census Summary Tape File 3.
In the Northeast, the Midwest, and

the South, speakers of Other IndoEuropean languages made up the

second largest non-Englishlanguage speaking group, while in

the West, the second largest group

was speakers of Asian and Pacific

Island languages. Half of Asian

and Pacific Island-language speakers lived in the West in 2000. 

Table 3 shows the change in the

number of speakers of Spanish,

Other Indo-European languages,

Asian and Pacific Island languages,

and All other languages between

1990 and 2000. The largest percentage increase of Spanish speakers was in the Midwest. Asian and

Pacific Island-language speakers

increased most rapidly in the South

and the Midwest. Although the

number of Spanish speakers grew

in all regions, more than threefourths of that growth was in the

West and the South. The number

of Asian and Pacific Island-language speakers grew substantially

in all regions, with the greatest

numerical increase in the West,

which was home to more than half

of all Asian and Pacific Island-language speakers in both years.

More than one-quarter of 

the population in seven states

spoke a language other than

English at home in 2000.

California had the largest percentage of non-English-language speakers (39 percent), followed by New

Mexico (37 percent), Texas (31 percent), New York (28 percent),

Hawaii (27 percent), Arizona, and

New Jersey (each about 26 percent,

see Table 2). The five states with

fewer than 5 percent of the population who spoke a language other

than English at home were all in

the South — Tennessee (4.8 percent), Alabama and Kentucky 

(each 3.9 percent), Mississippi 

(3.6 percent), and West Virginia

(2.7 percent).

Eight states had over 1 million

non-English-language speakers in

2000, led by California (12.4 million) with more than twice the

number of any other state. Texas

had the second largest number of

non-English-language speakers 

(6.0 million), followed by New York

(5.0 million), Florida (3.5 million),

Illinois (2.2 million), New Jersey

(2.0 million), Arizona (1.2 million),

and Massachusetts (1.1 million).

During the 1990s, California surpassed New Mexico as the state

with the largest proportion of 

non-English-language speakers.

While the proportion of nonEnglish-language speakers in New

Mexico increased slightly from 

36 percent to 37 percent, the proportion in California jumped from

31 percent to 39 percent.

The number of non-Englishlanguage speakers at least doubled

in six states from 1990 to 2000.

The largest percentage increase

occurred in Nevada, where the

number increased by 193 percent.

Nevada also had the highest rate

of population increase during the

decade. Georgia’s non-Englishlanguage-speaking residents

6 U.S. Census Bureau

Figure 4.

Non-English Languages Spoken at Home,

by Region: 2000 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 3.

(Population 5 years and over, in millions. Data based on sample. For 

information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, sampling 

error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf3.pdf)

West

South

Midwest

Northeast

0.6

4.5

3.8

1.3

0.4

2.6

1.9

0.8

0.4

9.9

2.4

1.3

0.4

11.1

2.0

3.6

Spanish

Other Indo-European languages

Asian and Pacific Island languages

All other languages
increased by 164 percent, followed

by North Carolina (151 percent),

Utah (110 percent), Arkansas 

(104 percent), and Oregon 

(103 percent).7

Since 1990, the proportion of people who spoke a language other

than English at home decreased in

three states. North Dakota had the

largest decrease (19 percent), followed by Maine (11 percent) and

Louisiana (2 percent). These three

states also had low rates of population growth from 1990 to 2000.

Counties with a large

proportion of the population

who spoke a language other

than English at home were

concentrated in border states.

Figure 5 illustrates the high proportions of people who spoke a

language other than English at

home in 2000 in the states that

border Mexico, the Pacific Ocean,

or the Atlantic Ocean. Some of

these “border states” were entry

points for many immigrants.

In 2000, in about 1 percent of the

3,141 counties in the United

States, more than 60 percent of 

the population spoke a language

other than English at home. In

seven counties, more than 80 percent of the population spoke a

non-English language at home —

Maverick, Webb, Starr, Kenedy,

Zavala, Presidio, and Hidalgo — all

in Texas. All but one of the 20

counties with the highest proportions of non-English-language

speakers were located in Texas

(Santa Cruz County, Arizona being

the exception).

Figure 5 shows the high proportion

of non-English-language speakers in

counties with large cities, such as

Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, and New

York City. Other counties with relatively high proportions of nonEnglish-language speakers included

concentrations of people who spoke

Native American languages.8 For

example, in Bethel Census Area,

Alaska, 66 percent of the population spoke a language other than

English at home, and 97 percent of

the non-English-language speakers

spoke a Native North American language. The Navajo speakers in the

Navajo Nation Indian Reservation,

which spanned several counties

throughout Arizona, New Mexico,

and Utah, accounted for a large proportion of the population who

spoke a language other than

English at home in these counties.

In some counties, relatively high

proportions of non-English-language

speakers are found in small, rural

populations. For example, the proportions of non-English-language

speakers were 25 percent in Logan

County and 36 percent in McIntosh

County in North Dakota and 33 percent in McPherson County in South

Dakota.9 In these three counties,

each with a population of fewer

than 4,000, German speakers were

predominant among non-Englishlanguage speakers: 95.3 percent,

98.1 percent, and 99.6 percent,

respectively.10

Among all counties, the median percentage of the population who

spoke a language other than

English at home was 4.6 percent.11

The fact that the proportion was 

U.S. Census Bureau 7

Table 3.

Language Spoken at Home for the Population 5 Years and Over Who Spoke a Language

Other Than English at Home for the United States and Regions: 1990 and 2000

(Data based on sample. For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see

www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf3.pdf)

Area

Spanish Other Indo-European

languages

Asian and Pacific Island

languages All other languages

1990 2000

Percent

change 1990 2000

Percent

change 1990 2000

Percent

change 1990 2000

Percent

change

United States . . 17,345,064 28,101,052 62.0 8,790,133 10,017,989 14.0 4,471,621 6,960,065 55.6 1,238,161 1,872,489 51.2

Region

Northeast ........ 3,133,043 4,492,168 43.4 3,547,154 3,778,958 6.5 845,442 1,348,621 59.5 298,646 437,584 46.5

Midwest ......... 1,400,651 2,623,391 87.3 1,821,772 1,861,729 2.2 459,524 760,107 65.4 238,713 378,311 58.5

South ........... 5,815,486 9,908,653 70.4 1,909,179 2,390,266 25.2 715,235 1,277,618 78.6 229,731 430,859 87.5

West. . . . . . . . . . . . 6,995,884 11,076,840 58.3 1,512,028 1,987,036 31.4 2,451,420 3,573,719 45.8 471,071 625,735 32.8

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 3 and 1990 Census Summary Tape File 3.

7 The percentage increases between

Arkansas and Utah and between Arkansas

and Oregon were not statistically different

from one another.

8 For more detailed information on language use and English-speaking ability, see

Summary File 3.

9 The proportions of non-English-language speakers in McIntosh County, North

Dakota, and McPherson County, South

Dakota, were not statistically different from

each other. 10 The proportions of German speakers

among non-English-language speakers in

Logan County and McIntosh County, North

Dakota, were not statistically different from

each other. 11 The median percentage is a point

estimate based on a sample.
8 U.S. Census Bureau 

People Who Spoke a Language Other Than English at Home: 2000 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 3. American FactFinder at factfinder.census.gov provides census data and mapping tools. 

U.S. pe

U.S. pe

(Data based on sample. For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf3.pdf) Figure 5. 0 100 Miles 0 100 Miles 

0 100 Miles 
below 4.6 percent in one-half of all

counties, while the national average

was 17.9 percent, reflects the large

number of counties (primarily nonmetropolitan counties in the

Midwest and the South) with relatively small populations and with

low proportions of non-Englishlanguage speakers.

Figure 5 illustrates the low 

proportions of non-Englishlanguage speakers in many counties in the South and the Midwest,

including Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa,

Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi,

Missouri, Tennessee, West Virginia,

and Wisconsin. In West Virginia, all

but 2 of the 55 counties had a proportion of non-English-language

speakers below 4.6 percent.

Places with the highest

percentages of non-Englishlanguage speakers, Spanish

speakers, and people who

spoke English less than “Very

well” were concentrated in

California, Florida, and Texas.

Of the 245 places with 100,000 or

more population in 2000, Hialeah,

Florida, topped the list with 

93 percent of the population aged

5 and over who spoke a language

other than English at home in

2000.12 In addition, 92 percent

spoke Spanish and 59 percent

spoke English less than “Very well”

in Hialeah (see Table 4).13 Six additional places were included in all

three categories in Table 4: Laredo

and Brownsville, Texas; East Los

Angeles, El Monte, and Santa Ana,

California; and Miami, Florida.

McAllen and El Paso, Texas, and

Elizabeth, New Jersey, were included in two of the three categories.

Pomona, Garden Grove, and Salinas,

all in California, were included in

one of the three categories.

ADDITIONAL FINDINGS

How many people were

linguistically isolated?

In the United States, the ability to

speak English plays a large role in

how well people can perform daily

activities. How well a person

speaks English may indicate how

well he or she communicates with

public officials, medical personnel,

and other service providers. It

U.S. Census Bureau 9

12 Census 2000 showed 245 places in the

United States with 100,000 or more population. They included 238 incorporated places

(including 4 city-county consolidations) and

7 census designated places that were not

legally incorporated. For a list of these

places by state, see www.census.gov

/population/www/cen2000/phc-t6.html. 13 The percentages of people who spoke

English less than “Very well” in Hialeah,

Florida, and Laredo, Texas, were not statistically different from each other. The percentages of people who spoke Spanish in Hialeah,

Florida, and Laredo, Texas, were also not statistically different from each other.

Table 4.

Ten Places of 100,000 or More Population With the

Highest Percentage of People 5 Years and Over Who

Spoke a Language Other Than English at Home, Who

Spoke Spanish at Home, and Who Spoke English Less

Than “Very Well”: 2000

(Data based on sample. For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error,

nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf3.pdf)

Place

Number Percent

90-percent

confidence

interval

Spoke a Language Other Than English

Hialeah, FL .............................. 197,504 92.6 92.3 - 92.9

Laredo, TX .............................. 145,510 91.8 91.4 - 92.2

East Los Angeles, CA1 .................... 97,645 87.4 86.8 - 88.0

Brownsville, TX........................... 110,003 87.2 86.7 - 87.7

El Monte, CA ............................ 84,834 80.7 80.0 - 81.4

Santa Ana, CA ........................... 241,303 79.6 79.2 - 80.0

McAllen, TX.............................. 73,882 76.1 75.3 - 76.9

Miami, FL................................ 254,536 74.6 74.2 - 75.0

El Paso, TX.............................. 369,000 71.3 70.9 - 71.7

Elizabeth, NJ............................. 75,305 67.5 66.7 - 68.3

Spoke Spanish

Hialeah, FL .............................. 195,884 91.9 91.6 - 92.2

Laredo, TX .............................. 144,633 91.3 90.9 - 91.7

Brownsville, TX........................... 109,153 86.6 86.1 - 87.1

East Los Angeles, CA1 .................... 96,525 86.4 85.8 - 87.0

McAllen, TX.............................. 71,800 74.0 73.2 - 74.8

Santa Ana, CA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211,276 69.7 69.2 - 70.2

El Paso, TX.............................. 356,558 68.9 68.5 - 69.3

Miami, FL................................ 227,293 66.6 66.1 - 67.1

El Monte, CA ............................ 64,889 61.8 61.0 - 62.6

Pomona, CA ............................. 74,557 55.0 54.2 - 55.8

Spoke English Less Than ‘‘Very Well’’

Hialeah, FL .............................. 126,358 59.3 58.7 - 59.9

East Los Angeles, CA1 .................... 57,966 51.9 51.1 - 52.7

Santa Ana, CA ........................... 156,692 51.7 51.2 - 52.2

El Monte, CA ............................ 53,662 51.1 50.2 - 52.0

Miami, FL................................ 160,790 47.1 46.6 - 47.6

Laredo, TX .............................. 69,071 43.6 42.9 - 44.3

Brownsville, TX........................... 52,970 42.0 41.2 - 42.8

Garden Grove, CA........................ 57,313 37.6 36.9 - 38.3

Elizabeth, NJ............................. 41,068 36.8 36.0 - 37.6

Salinas, CA . ............................. 49,099 35.9 35.2 - 36.6

1 East Los Angeles, CA, is a census designated place and is not legally incorporated.

Note: Because of sampling error, the estimates in this table may not be significantly different from

one another or from rates for other places not listed in this table.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 3.
could also affect other activities

outside the home, such as grocery

shopping or banking. People who

do not have a strong command of

English and who do not have

someone in their household to

help them on a regular basis are at

even more of a disadvantage.

They are defined here as “linguistically isolated” (see text box

above). 

In 2000, 4.4 million households

encompassing 11.9 million people

were linguistically isolated. These

numbers were significantly higher

than in 1990, when 2.9 million

households and 7.7 million people

lived in those households.

ABOUT CENSUS 2000

Why Census 2000 Asked

About Language Use and

English-Speaking Ability

The question on language use and

English-speaking ability provides

government agencies with information for programs that serve the

needs of people who have difficulty

speaking English. Under the Voting

Rights Act, information about language ability is needed to meet

statutory requirements for making

voting materials available in

minority languages.

The Bilingual Education Program

uses data on language to allocate

grants to school districts for children with limited English proficiency. These data also are needed for

local agencies developing services

for the elderly under the Older

Americans Act. 

Accuracy of the Estimates

The data contained in this report

are based on the sample of households who responded to the

Census 2000 long form.

Nationally, approximately 1 out of

every 6 housing units was included

in this sample. As a result, the

sample estimates may differ somewhat from the 100-percent figures

that would have been obtained if

all housing units, people within

those housing units, and people

living in group quarters had been

enumerated using the same questionnaires, instructions, enumerators, and so forth. The sample

estimates also differ from the values that would have been obtained

from different samples of housing

units, people within those housing

units, and people living in group

quarters. The deviation of a sample estimate from the average of

all possible samples is called the

sampling error. 

In addition to the variability that

arises from the sampling procedures, both sample data and 100-

percent data are subject to nonsampling error. Nonsampling error

may be introduced during any of

the various complex operations

used to collect and process data.

Such errors may include: not enumerating every household or every

person in the population, failing to

obtain all required information

from the respondents, obtaining

incorrect or inconsistent information, and recording information

incorrectly. In addition, errors can

occur during the field review of the

enumerators’ work, during clerical

handling of the census questionnaires, or during the electronic

processing of the questionnaires.

Nonsampling error may affect the

data in two ways: (1) errors that

are introduced randomly will

increase the variability of the data

and, therefore, should be reflected

in the standard errors; and (2)

errors that tend to be consistent in

one direction will bias both sample

and 100-percent data in that direction. For example, if respondents

consistently tend to underreport

their incomes, then the resulting

estimates of households or families by income category will tend

to be understated for the higher

income categories and overstated

for the lower income categories.

Such biases are not reflected in the

standard errors.

While it is impossible to completely

eliminate error from an operation

as large and complex as the decennial census, the Census Bureau

attempts to control the sources of

such error during the data collection and processing operations.

The primary sources of error and

the programs instituted to control

error in Census 2000 are described

in detail in Summary File 3

Technical Documentation under

Chapter 8, “Accuracy of the Data,”

located at www.census.gov

/prod/cen2000/doc/sf3.pdf. 

All statements in this Census 2000

Brief have undergone statistical

testing and all comparisons are

significant at the 90-percent confidence level, unless otherwise

noted. The estimates in tables,

maps, and other figures may vary

10 U.S. Census Bureau

Linguistically Isolated

Households

A linguistically isolated household is one in which no person aged 14 or over speaks

English at least “Very well.”

That is, no person aged 14 or

over speaks only English at

home, or speaks another language at home and speaks

English “Very well.” 

A linguistically isolated person is any person living in a

linguistically isolated household. All the members of a

linguistically isolated household are tabulated as linguistically isolated, including

members under 14 years old

who may speak only English.
from actual values due to sampling

and nonsampling errors. As a

result, estimates in one category

may not be significantly different

from estimates assigned to a different category. Further information on the accuracy of the data is

located at www.census.gov

/prod/cen2000/doc/sf3.pdf. For

further information on the computation and use of standard errors,

contact the Decennial Statistical

Studies Division at 301-763-4242. 

For More Information

The Census 2000 Summary File 3

data are available from the

American FactFinder on the

Internet (factfinder.census.gov).

They were released on a state-bystate basis during 2002. For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, sampling

error, and definitions, also see

www.census.gov/prod/cen2000

/doc/sf3.pdf or contact the

Customer Services Center at 

301-763-INFO (4636).

Information on population and

housing topics is presented in the

Census 2000 Brief series, located

on the Census Bureau’s Web site at

www.census.gov/population/www

/cen2000/briefs.html. This series

presents information on race,

Hispanic origin, age, sex, household type, housing tenure, and

social, economic, and housing

characteristics, such as ancestry,

income, and housing costs.

For additional information on

language use and English-speaking

ability, including reports and survey data, visit the Census Bureau’s

Internet site at www.census.gov

/population/www/socdemo

/lang_use.html. To find information about the availability of data

products, including reports, 

CD-ROMs, and DVDs, call the

Customer Services Center at 

301-763-INFO (4636), or e-mail

webmaster@census.gov. 

U.S. Census Bureau 11