How many people in Washington, DC speak a language other than English at home?
Refreshed annually
In 2024, about 141,000 people age 5 and older in the District of Columbia spoke a language other than English at home. That's about one in 5 Washingtonians. Excluding English, Spanish is the most common language spoken in District of Columbia homes. About 43.8% of people speaking a non-English language spoke Spanish.
141K
people speak a language other than English at home (2024)
43.8%
Spanish's share of non-English language speakers (2024)
More than half of all people in District of Columbia speaking a non-English language at home spoke one of 39 languages: Spanish, Amharic, Somali, or other Afro-Asiatic languages, or French (incl. Cajun).
Spanish is the most-spoken non-English language in District of Columbia homes, followed by Amharic, Somali, or other Afro-Asiatic languages and French (incl. Cajun).
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.
Based on data from 2024, District of Columbia's residents were less likely to speak a non-English language at home than the population nationwide. While about 0.21% of the US's 5+ population lived in District of Columbia, the state was home to 0.19% of the nation's non-English speakers — a sign that District of Columbia had a disproportionately smaller share of non-English households.
The non-English languages most concentrated in District of Columbia were Amharic, Somali, or other Afro-Asiatic languages (2.3% of all US speakers), French (incl. Cajun) (0.9%), and Hebrew (0.5%).
In District of Columbia, no non-English language had its largest US-speaking population in the state. Amharic, Somali, or other Afro-Asiatic languages was the language for which District of Columbia accounted for the largest share of US speakers, at 2.3%.
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Amharic, Somali, or other Afro-Asiatic languages is the language for which District of Columbia 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 District of Columbia whose primary language at home is not English increased 26.9%. The number of people speaking Spanish — the largest of the Census Bureau's four broad language categories in District of Columbia — grew 12.1% during this period.
In District of Columbia, the number of people speaking Spanish at home grew 12.1% 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.
