Spanish is the most spoken non-English language in U.S. homes, even among non-Hispanics
A record 37.6 million persons ages 5 years and older speak Spanish at home, according to an analysis of the 2011 American Community Survey by the Pew Research Center.
Spanish is, by far, the most spoken non-English language in the U.S. The next most spoken non-English languages are Chinese (with 2.8 million speakers), Hindi, Urdu or other Indic languages (2.2 million), French or French Creole (2.1 million), and Tagalog (1.7 million).
The number of Spanish speakers in the U.S. has grown rapidly in recent decades, reflecting the arrival of new immigrants from Latin America and growth in the nation’s Hispanic population. Today 34.8 million Hispanics ages 5 and older speak Spanish at home.
However, not all Spanish speakers are Hispanic. According to our analysis, some 2.8 million non-Hispanics speak Spanish at home today. That places Spanish at the top of the list of non-English languages spoken by non-Hispanics along with Chinese and ahead of all other languages.
(The U.S. Census Bureau measure of non-English language use captures how many people say a language other than English is spoken in the home but does not capture how well or how often the language is spoken).
Who are the 2.8 million non-Hispanics who speak Spanish at home? Some 59% trace their ancestry to non-Spanish European countries such as Germany, Ireland, England and Italy. An additional 12% say they are of African American descent. Nonetheless, about one-in-five (18%) non-Hispanic Spanish speakers trace their heritage to a Spanish-speaking country. By comparison, among the non-Hispanic U.S. population ages 5 and older, about two-thirds (64%) trace their ancestry to non-Spanish European countries, 13% say their ancestry is African American and 1% trace their heritage to a Spanish-speaking country.
Nine-in-ten (89%) of non-Hispanic Spanish speakers were born in the U.S., a share similar to that for all non-Hispanics ages 5 and older (91%).
The racial composition of non-Hispanic Spanish speakers mirrors that of the U.S. non-Hispanic population. Overall, three-quarters (77%) of non-Hispanics who speak Spanish at home are white, 14% are black, and 9% say they belong to some other racial group. Among the non-Hispanic U.S. population ages five years and older, 76% are white, 14% are black, and 9% are some other race.
Many non-Hispanic Spanish speakers reside in a household where at least one other member is Hispanic. Overall, 26% of non-Hispanic Spanish speakers live in these types of households. By comparison, just 3% of all non-Hispanics ages 5 and older live in such households.
Three-in-ten (28%) non-Hispanics Spanish speakers who are married live with a Hispanic spouse. By comparison, only 2% of non-Hispanics are living with a Hispanic spouse.
When it comes to English proficiency, eight-in-ten (80%) non-Hispanics who speak Spanish at home say they speak English “very well”, 11% say they speak English “well”, and 9% say they speak English “not well” or do not speak English. This compares with 96% of all non-Hispanics 5 years and older who speak English only or speak it “very well”, 2% who speak English “well”, and 2% who speak English “not well” or do not speak English.
Topics: Hispanic/Latino Demographics, Language
Ana Gonzalez-Barrera is a Research Associate at the Hispanic Trends Project.
Mark Hugo Lopez is Director of Hispanic Research, Pew Research Center.
jai troy • 1 month ago
Perhaps you might consider putting a chart with just numbers and names.
Frederick Colbourne • 2 months ago
The motivation for non-Hispanics speaking Spanish would be an interesting research project.
For me it’s mainly for fun because I don’t use dictionaries or grammar books anymore.
Neither my sister or I speak Spanish as a first language but I just sent her a birthday card in Spanish because I knew that would get her thinking about a trip to Chile that she enjoyed immensely. The recuerdos will be my birthday gift.
I worked on three projects in Latin America for international agencies and now try to keep up Spanish language proficiency by watching movies with the Spanish audio and subtitles turned on. [Youtube makes it easy now to read subtitles while listening.]
I can follow if I keep the speed to 80% of normal frame rate. The fun part is watching the Hound of the Baskervilles with the audio in Spanish.
Another good one was Que viene Valdez (Valdez is Coming, Elmore Leonard’s novel.)
I thought that Burt Lancaster was miscast because he had blue eyes, but a little research showed me that the State of Sonora was known for its blue-eyed immigrants from Europe.
Stereotypes of Latinos die hard and Spanish language study helps to dispel the stereotypes. Another research project?
Denise • 2 weeks ago
Fantastico que estes aprendiendo espanol!! Yo soy chilena y es un orgullo que a tu hermana le haya encantado mi pais. gracias
Katia Hurless • 3 months ago
So sorry you’ll miss the workshop!
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Mika Roinila • 3 months ago
I enjoyed your article very much. Thank you. I’d love to find more articles on this – do you have any suggestions? I’ve done some research on this through the Minnesota Population Center IPUMS data base, and it’s interesting that while the English language is dominant, among all Nordic Americans there is a growing number of people who speak Spanish at home rather than one of their original languages such as Swedish, Norwegian, etc. Only the Finnish language has yet to be surpassed by a larger number of Spanish speakers. I am very interested in these trends, and suspect that with time, most if not all ethnic groups will lose their native languages which will be replaced by Spanish that will be spoken at home. See my article at migrationinstitute.fi/art/pdf/SM… (pages 10-18).
Steve • 3 months ago
Are many of the 2.8 million non-Hispanics who speak Spanish at home people living in areas that are predominantly Spanish speaking, such as the USA/Mexico border region? Just a guess. I wonder if the high number of french speakers is powered by immigrants from former French colonies such as Haiti and Madagascar… possibly even Vietnam? The small number of Cajun French speakers are dying off at a rapid pace, and French-Canadian culture in the USA is a far cry from what it was a century ago. People from France are a small presence in the USA, but due to their “racial” diversity, it would be interesting to see more of them immigrate here. Many of the German speakers are likely Amish. It would be interesting to learn more about the Native American peoples who were the first to live in the New World’s Hispanic countries, that have immigrated north of the Rio Grande. To those who are not in the know, most people identifying as Hispanic list their “race” as “white” in the US Census.
Shane Wescovich • 3 months ago
Hello.This article was really remarkable, especially since I was investigating for thoughts on this issue last Friday.
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Victor • 4 months ago
How can I cite this article?
kodhambo • 7 months ago
Why the focus on non-hispanics speaking Spanish at home, but are conversant in English? Can you tell me about the big elephant, what fraction of Hispanics who speak spanish at home, but conversant in English?
Dan • 7 months ago
My family is nearly all German decent and my sister and I speak Spanish to each other at home because we learned it in school. Its fun to talk in another language and we enjoy it. Our parents used to get annoyed but I said well it’s your fault you didn’t learn German from your parents (my grandparents can speak German quite well) to teach us so don’t be mad! Haha its no big deal, this poll is interesting because it shows my sister and I aren’t the only “white kids” who speak Spanish to each other!
Audacious Epigone • 7 months ago
What are the comparable English proficiency stats for Hispanic Spanish speakers in the US? We get the breakdown on proficiency among non-Hispanics–both those who speak Spanish and those who do not–but not for Hispanic Spanish speakers in the US. Any chance of sharing that?
AVM • 7 months ago
I am curious, what does this study consider “Hispanic” and “non-Hispanic”? As far as I know, “Hispanic” is a legal term in the United States concerning anyone who originates from a Spanish-speaking country. Is the study referring to race? I do not believe that race is an accurate way to define Spanish-speakers, as many people who live or come from South America are white. I get especially confused when the article says that “many non-Hispanic Spanish speakers reside in a household where at least one other member is Hispanic.”
Mark Hugo Lopez • 7 months ago
Hello AVM. In our study, someone is considered Hispanic if they say they are. This is how the Census Bureau also identifies Hispanics–Hispanic identity is based on a self-report. You are correct that there is a formal federal government definition, but in practice someone is identified as Hispanic if they say they are. (You can read more about this here: pewhispanic.org/2009/05/28/whos-….)
In answer to your question about race, our study does not treat Hispanic identity or langauge as a race. In Census Bureau surveys like the ACS (the data source for our analysis) respondents are asked two questions about race and ethnicity. First they are asked if they are Hispanic or not. Then they are asked what their race is. It is the response to the first question that we used in our study to identify Hispanics and non-Hispanics.
Even so, its important to note that some non-Hispanics are immigrants from Latin American countries. In otherwords, they do not identify themselves as Hispanics, but say they have ancestry in Latin America (Mexico, Argentina, Cuba, etc). In our study, we did not reclassify these individuals as Hispanics since they do not self-report as Hispanics. But many of these non-Hispanics are Spanish speakers. We make a note of this in our analysis.
With regards to your question about non-Hispanic Spanish speakers living with someone who is Hispanic, we provided that tabulation in order to document the share of non-Hispanic Spanish speakers who may have a Hispanic spouse, for example.
AVM • 7 months ago
Thank you!
bnc626 • 7 months ago
First of all…..I didn’t think “Chinese” was even a language…. I always thought that the languages were Cantonese or mandarin….secondly, this is an example of America selling out to foreigners!! I speak English and if you come here to the USA, you should learn English!! Keep your own language in your house!! It is really rude and disrespectful of foreigners to even request that Americans bend over backward to cater to them!! The american government gives these people no incentive to even learn English because the American government has the nerve to cater to them!! They create every single form in every single language…..if you want medicaid or welfare or a drivers license, then you should know how to fill out an English language form!!
AVM • 7 months ago
I would like to point out that under the graph, there is a description that says that Chinese includes both Mandarin and Cantonese.
Also, I would like to respond to your concern about people not speaking English. This report merely talks about languages spoken at home and is not an assessment of skill with the English language. You would probably not be able to tell by my English that I speak both German and Spanish in my household. Both of my parents are also fluent in English. I don’t understand how you came to conclude that a knowledge of another language means a lack of knowledge in English, but I wanted to clarify that for you.
Mel Cruz • 6 months ago
This country was founded on foreigners in case you didn’t know. Speaking spanish is part of what we are and our culture. Your ignorance is amazing I am super proud of being a Latino in the US and speak spanish all day everyday to my boy so like my Dominican mom would say si a ti no te gusta allí ta la puerta.
benabelly • 6 months ago
Small correction: 2 founders were Irish. James Smith, George Taylor and Matthew Thornton. Guess what. They spoke ENGLISH.
Mario Gonzalez • 5 months ago
Florida was founded by Ponce De Leon and he spoke Spanish, same with almost all southwest of USA was Spanish territory, so your point doesn’t work here.
Joe • 6 months ago
No one cares how you feel bnc626!! I will continue to talk in Polish when I am out and even Spanish which I will continue to practice. I find Spanish as a beautiful language and an easier phonetic language than English. Just don’t be an ignoramus. I am pretty sure no one cares who speaks what language when they are not in home.
orville k goodin • 7 months ago
I am confused: “Overall, three-quarters (77%) of non-Hispanics who speak Spanish at home are white, 14% are black, and 9% say they belong to some other racial group.”
Who are these non- Hispanics: “Some 59% trace their ancestry to non-Spanish European countries such as Germany, Ireland, England and Italy. An additional 12% say they are of African American descent. [Nonetheless, about one-in-five (18%) non-Hispanic Spanish speakers trace their heritage to a Spanish-speaking country.]
Who are these folk? Filipinos, Indeginous population(?) etc.?
Rodrigvm • 7 months ago
Contrary to the US which is obsesively mono lingual most nations around the world learn other languages including Spanish. I have some British friends that lived in Argentina and speak better Spanish (at home) than some Latinos. Also, many upper middle class whites send their children to double immersion schools to learn Spanish while Latinos assimilate and can’t speak Spanish. When you do business with Latin America not speaking grammatically correct Spanish leads to being dismissed or labelled as uneducated. That is why many white sin the business world learn Spanish (and of course English). South American nations like Chile Argentina, Brazil (despite the occasional turmoil) are doing economically better than the US and it 1%/99% inequality.
Martin Vega • 8 months ago
While these numbers are illuminating, I think it would help if PEW Hispanic were to delve deeper into the issue of the growing number of non-Hispanic (indigenous) that reside in the U.S. It is notable that there is no mention of this population in the article.
El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, the Mexican Institute of Immigration as well as the U.S. Census all show that the inflows of indigenous from Southern Mexico, Guatemala, and to a less extent Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador have been rising. And, that many come to U.S. either speaking a monolingual indigenous language, or in addition, Spanish. Given the U.S. Census’ weak methodology capturing non-Hispanic indigenous from Latin America, making adjustments for this population’s significant under-count would increase the number of Spanish-speakers among this segment of the population.
Mr. Paulo Franca • 8 months ago
Sounds great! It even proves that English is the language for international communication. In other words, it doesn’t matter what language one speaks at home or among peers. When it comes to the outside world English language is the boss. It is the world’s lingua franca. Full stop.
Joe • 6 months ago
Does not have to be English but people choose to use English since they live in the US.
Chris Marlowe • 2 months ago
I hope this does not offend English speakers, but I sense English language chauvinism in these comments.
My first language is English, but if I meet a Spanish-language speaker I switch to Spanish. Ditto, I switch to French if I meet a Francophone.
I switch to Spanish with Italian-language speakers and find that most understand Spanish with the same degree of difficulty I have understanding Spanish. But it works.
North of the border in Canada there are two official languages and all laws are printed in both languages. Sounds like democracy where the Franco-phones are able to participate fully in civil affairs in own language. I understand that they were the first inhabitants and were guaranteed equal language rights in the Canadian constitution.
I don’t remember seeing anything in the US Constitution that makes English the US national language.
For the record, I learned Spanish on the streets, in bars and night-clubs, amazing people by pulling a dictionary out of my back pocket to look up unfamiliar words.
Ademas, el mejor diccionario tiene sólo dos páginas