How many people speak a language other than English at home in the US?
Refreshed annually
In 2024, about 74.1 million or 23% of people age 5 and older in the US spoke a language other than English at home. Spanish accounted for more than half. American Community Survey (ACS) data identifies 11 non-English languages that are the primary language in the homes of more than a million people.
74.1M
people speak a language other than English at home (2024)
11
non-English language groups with more than 1 million speakers at home (2024)
The ACS includes 42 non-English languages and language groups in its annual count. The three non-English languages spoken in the most homes are:
- Spanish, 44.9 million speakers
- Chinese (including Mandarin and Cantonese), 3.7 million
- Tagalog (including Filipino), 1.9 million
There are 11 non-English languages or language groups with more than 1 million speakers at home
People aged 5 or older who speak a language other than English at home, by language group (2024)
The ACS asks people if they speak a language other than English at home, what that language is, and how well they speak English. This data determines bilingual election requirements under the Voting Rights Act and has also been used to allocate funds for students with lower English proficiency.
In 2024, 60.9% of people ages 5+ who spoke a non-English language at home said they spoke English "very well." Among the 11 languages claiming more than a million speakers in homes, people who spoke Hindi received the highest English proficiency at 83.5%. Vietnamese speakers had the lowest, at 42.6%.
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In 2024, 83.5% of people who spoke Hindi at home also speak English "very well"
People aged 5 or older who spoke a language other than English at home and speak English "very well." Only languages with more than a million speakers at home (2024)
Population change
The US population gained 1.78 million people between 2024 and 2025.
How does language use vary by state?
Four states were home to more than half the population speaking a non-English language at home in 2024: California, Texas, Florida, and New York. These are also the most-populous states in the US.
The percentage of the population whose primary language at home wasn't English varied by state from a low of 2.8% in West Virginia to 45.3% in California.
California had the largest share of its population speaking a language other than English at home.
Percentage of the population 5 and older speaking a non-English language at home, by state (2024)
From 2020 to 2024, Spanish ranked second behind English in all but three states: Alaska (where Native languages were second), Hawaii (Ilocano, Samoan, Hawaiian, or other Austronesian languages), and Maine (French).
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Methodology
USAFacts standardizes data, in areas such as time and demographics, to make it easier to understand and compare.