DEC. 7, 2023 – Over three-quarters (78.3%) of the nation age 5 and older spoke only English at home, according to newly released 2018-2022 American Community Survey (ACS), 5-year estimates. This is a decrease from 78.7% in 2013-2017, the most recent nonoverlapping five-year period. Among those that spoke a language other than English in 2018-2022, Spanish (61.1%), Chinese (which includes all dialects) (5.1%), and Tagalog (including Filipino) (2.5%) were the three most spoken languages at home. Among the population age 5 and older that spoke a language other than English at home, 61.0% of Spanish speakers, 48.2% of Chinese speakers (which includes all dialects), and 69.8% of Tagalog (including Filipino) speakers spoke English “very well.”
"English remains the most commonly spoken language," said Adrienne Griffiths, survey statistician in the Education and Social Stratification Branch. “Across most age groups, the majority of the population who spoke a language other than English at home still spoke English very well.”
Among specific age groups that spoke a language other than English at home:
Additional estimates from the 2018-2022 ACS were also released today and are available for all states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, all congressional districts and metropolitan statistical areas, counties, places, census tracts, ZIP code tabulation areas, and block groups.
Highlights:
The Census Bureau is set to release ACS, 5-year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files and Variance Replicate Estimate (VRE) tables on January 25, 2024.
To view the complete release schedule, visit the data year 2022 release schedule. For more information on ACS topics, visit the Subjects Included in the Survey. To access the full set of statistics released today, visit data.census.gov.
Statistics from sample surveys are subject to sampling and nonsampling error. All comparisons in the highlights have been tested and found to be statistically significant at the 90% confidence level, unless otherwise noted. Consult the tables on data.census.gov for specific margins of error. For more information on using margins of error, visit the Code Lists, Definitions, and Accuracy.
Year-to-year changes in survey design can affect results. For more information on changes affecting the 2022 statistics, refer to our user notes.
These statistics would not be possible without participation of ACS respondents throughout the country.
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