How many people in North Dakota speak a language other than English at home?
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In 2024, about 52,800 people age 5 and older in North Dakota spoke a language other than English at home. That's about one in 14 North Dakotans. Excluding English, Spanish is the most common language spoken in North Dakota homes. About 31.5% of people speaking a non-English language spoke Spanish.
52.8K
people speak a language other than English at home (2024)
31.5%
Spanish's share of non-English language speakers (2020–2024)
More than half of all people in North Dakota speaking a non-English language at home spoke one of three languages: Spanish, German, or Tagalog (incl. Filipino).
Spanish is the most-spoken non-English language in North Dakota homes, followed by German and Tagalog (incl. Filipino).
People aged 5 or older who speak a language other than English at home, by language group (2020-2024)
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.
Based on data from 2024, North Dakota's residents were less likely to speak a non-English language at home than the population nationwide. While about 0.23% of the US's 5+ population lived in North Dakota, the state was home to 0.07% of the nation's non-English speakers — a sign that North Dakota had a disproportionately smaller share of non-English households.
The non-English languages most concentrated in North Dakota were Other Native languages of North America (1.5% of all US speakers), German (0.5%), and Swahili or other languages of Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa (0.5%).
In North Dakota, no non-English language had its largest US-speaking population in the state. Other Native languages of North America was the language for which North Dakota accounted for the largest share of US speakers, at 1.5%.
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Other Native languages of North America is the language for which North Dakota makes up the largest share of US speakers
State share of national speakers by language, ages 5 and older (2024)
Population change
The US population gained 1.78 million people between 2024 and 2025.
Between 2018 and 2024, the number of people in North Dakota whose primary language at home is not English increased 1.2%. The number of people speaking Spanish — the largest of the Census Bureau's four broad language categories in North Dakota — grew 55.2% during this period.
In North Dakota, the number of people speaking Spanish at home grew 55.2% since 2018
Non-English language speakers ages 5 and older at home, by broad language group
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Methodology
USAFacts standardizes data, in areas such as time and demographics, to make it easier to understand and compare.
Page sources
USAFacts endeavors to share the most up-to-date information available. We sourced the data on this page directly from government agencies; however, the intervals at which agencies publish updated data vary.
