{"id":15404,"date":"2013-08-13T07:30:10","date_gmt":"2013-08-13T12:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/spanish-is-the-most-spoken-non-english-language-in-u-s-homes-even-among-non-hispanics\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:29:33","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:29:33","slug":"spanish-is-the-most-spoken-non-english-language-in-u-s-homes-even-among-non-hispanics","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/08\/13\/spanish-is-the-most-spoken-non-english-language-in-u-s-homes-even-among-non-hispanics\/","title":{"rendered":"Spanish is the most spoken non-English language in U.S. homes, even among non-Hispanics"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FT_Non_English\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

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<\/a> by the Pew Research Center.<\/p>\n\n

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).<\/p>\n\n

The number of Spanish speakers in the U.S. has grown rapidly<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>(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).<\/p>\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n

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%).<\/p>\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n

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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spanish is, by far, the most spoken non-English language in the U.S., but not all Spanish speakers are Hispanic. Some 2.8 million non-Hispanics speak Spanish at home today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"bylines":[{"key":"cfc703cbc5098fafd827da716d94f77e","termId":952},{"key":"40b675d967317a821c8e45016cb71fdb","termId":929}],"acknowledgements":[],"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[152,132],"bylines":[952,929],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[],"class_list":["post-15404","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-hispanic-latino-demographics","category-immigration-language-adoption","bylines-ana-gonzalez-barrera","bylines-mark-hugo-lopez","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":480,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/08\/13\/spanish-is-the-most-spoken-non-english-language-in-u-s-homes-even-among-non-hispanics\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Spanish is the most spoken non-English language in U.S. homes, even among non-Hispanics","description":"Spanish is, by far, the most spoken non-English language in the U.S., but not all Spanish speakers are Hispanic. 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