Business Insider/Andy Kiersz, data from Census Bureau
- Americans speak a plethora of different languages.
- Recently released Census data shows the share of households in each state that speak a language other than English at home.
- Coastal and southwestern states like California and Texas had many such households, while many central and southern states had a lower share of households speaking a non-English language at home.
Americans come from all around the world, and many bring the languages of their ancestral countries with them.
The US Census Bureau recently released statistics from the 2017 American Community Survey, an annual program that asks millions of Americans each year about several social, economic, and demographic attributes. The Bureau publishes figures for each of the 50 states and Washington DC.
Read more: All 50 states and Washington DC, ranked from least to most average
One of the questions on the survey asks respondents what language they speak at home. The Bureau then publishes estimates of how many households speak a language other than English at home.
Coastal states and states in the southwest had the highest shares of households that speak a language other than English. About 35% of of Texas households spoke a language other than English at home, while nearly half of California's households did.
West Virginia had the lowest share of households speaking a language other than English at home, at just 2.4%, followed by Mississippi's 3.7% share.
- Read more about demographics and language in the US:
- The 3 most common languages in every New York City neighborhood
- There are only 10 states in the US with more men than women
- Here's how old the typical person is in each US state
- Here's how much more the typical baby boomer makes than the typical millennial in every US state