What is the most common language other than English in the United States?

Spanish, spoken by about 44,298,203 people aged 5 and older at home across U.S. metro areas in the Census Bureau's 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey.

How many languages are spoken in the United States?

Hundreds. The Census Bureau has recorded more than 350 languages spoken at home nationwide. This map covers the 121 that meet the Bureau's reliability standards at the metro-area level; smaller communities are often grouped together or withheld from public data to protect privacy.

Where is this data from?

The American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 5-Year Public Use Microdata Sample, published by the U.S. Census Bureau. Margins of error are shown at the 90 percent confidence level.

Language access data

Where America speaks hundreds of languages

Name: Languages spoken at home in U.S. metropolitan areas
Creator: U.S. Census Bureau

Every metro area is coloured by its largest community that needs interpreters besides Spanish, the languages easiest to overlook. Pick any language to see where it is spoken, or a metro area to see who lives there.

121languages with reliable data
70.9Mspeakers age 5 and older
28.6Mlimited English

plus dozens more communities

Spanish is the largest community in almost every metro. Each city is coloured by the next-largest one that needs interpreters. Click a city for details.

121 languages

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020 to 2024 5-Year PUMS. Estimates suppressed where the coefficient of variation exceeds 30 percent.

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The 121 languages in this data, most to least spoken

The United States is home to hundreds of languages. These are the 121 that meet the Census Bureau's reliability standards at the metro level; smaller communities are often grouped together or withheld to protect privacy. Every language links to a full profile: where its speakers live, counts with margins of error, and where interpreter demand is highest.

Metro areas by interpreter need

Each metro links to the languages spoken there and where interpreters are most needed, ranked by the size of the limited-English population.