page_title: Hispanics and Latinos in California
section_title: Spanish language in California
hierarchical_section_title: Hispanics and Latinos in California / Spanish language in California
caption_attribution_description: Español: California español por condados
context_page_description: Hispanic and Latino Californians are residents of the state of California who are of Hispanic or Latino ancestry. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Hispanics and Latinos of any race were 38.1% of the state's population.
  Californios are the Hispanic residents native to California, who are culturally or genetically descended from the Spanish-speaking community which has existed in California since 1683, of varying Mexican American/Chicano, Criollo Spaniard, and Mestizo origin.
context_section_description: As of 2010, 28.46% (9,696,638) of California residents age 5 and older spoke Spanish at home as a primary language. California has the second highest concentration of Spanish speakers in the United States.
  California's first constitution recognized Spanish language rights:
  All laws, decrees, regulations, and provisions emanating from any of the three supreme powers of this State, which from their nature require publication, shall be published in English and Spanish.
  — California Constitution, 1849, Art. XI Sec. 21.
  By 1870, English-speaking Americans were a majority in California; in 1879, the state promulgated a new constitution under which all official proceedings were to be conducted exclusively in English, a clause that remained in effect until 1966. In 1986, California voters added a new constitutional clause, by referendum, stating that:
  English is the official language of the State of California.
  — California Constitution, Art. 3, Sec. 6
  Spanish remains widely spoken throughout the state, and many government forms, documents, and services are bilingual, in English and Spanish. And although all official proceedings are to be conducted in English:
  A person unable to understand English who is charged with a crime has a right to an interpreter throughout the proceedings.
  — California Constitution, Art. 1. Sec. 14
caption: Spanish language in California by county.
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