How many people in South Dakota speak a language other than English at home?
Refreshed annually
In 2024, about 61,400 people age 5 and older in South Dakota spoke a language other than English at home. That's about one in 14 South Dakotans. Excluding English, Spanish is the most common language spoken in South Dakota homes. About 36.4% of people speaking a non-English language spoke Spanish.
61.4K
people speak a language other than English at home (2024)
36.4%
Spanish's share of non-English language speakers (2020–2024)
More than half of all people in South Dakota speaking a non-English language at home spoke one of three languages: Spanish, Other Native languages of North America, or German.
Spanish is the most-spoken non-English language in South Dakota homes, followed by Other Native languages of North America and German.
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. In 2024, 61,400 South Dakota residents ages 5 and older, or 7% of the state’s population in that age group, spoke a language other than English at home, compared with 23% nationwide; Spanish was the most common language, spoken by 22,300 people, followed by Other Native languages of North America (9,500) and German (6,300). 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, South Dakota's residents were less likely to speak a non-English language at home than the population nationwide. While about 0.27% of the US's 5+ population lived in South Dakota, the state was home to 0.08% of the nation's non-English speakers — a sign that South Dakota had a disproportionately smaller share of non-English households.
The non-English languages most concentrated in South Dakota were Other Native languages of North America (5.7% of all US speakers), German (0.7%), and Amharic, Somali, or other Afro-Asiatic languages (0.5%).
In South 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 South Dakota accounted for the largest share of US speakers, at 5.7%.
Get weekly insights
Subscribe for data-driven insights. No spin, just the facts.
Other Native languages of North America is the language for which South 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 South Dakota whose primary language at home is not English increased 9.3%. The number of people speaking Spanish — the largest of the Census Bureau's four broad language categories in South Dakota — grew 45.1% during this period.
In South Dakota, the number of people speaking Spanish at home grew 45.1% since 2018
Non-English language speakers ages 5 and older at home, by broad language group
Keep exploring
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.
