The Spanish Language: The facts and figures – Part 2

July 28, 2014

Spanish is the second most used language in the United States. There are more Spanish speakers in the United States than there are speakers of Chinese, French, Italian, Hawaiian, and the Native American languages combined. According to the 2009 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, Spanish is the primary language spoken at home by over 35.5 million people aged five or older.[1] There are 45 million Hispanics who speak Spanish as a first or second language,[2] as well as six million Spanish students,[3] composing the largest national Spanish-speaking community outside of Mexico.[4] The following table presents the Spanish speaking population of each U.S. state and territory and the percentage of that state or territory’s population Spanish speakers make up:

State or Territory                     # Spanish Speakers   % of Pop.

Puerto Rico 3,900,128 95.21%
New Mexico 823,352 43.27%
California 12,442,626 34.72%
Texas 7,781,211 34.63%
Arizona 1,608,698 28.03%
Nevada 445,622 19.27%
Florida 3,304,832 19.01%
New York 3,076,697 15.96%
New Jersey 1,134,033 13.89%
Illinois 1,516,560 12.70%
Colorado 545,112 12.35%
Rhode Island 100,227 9.96%
Utah 216,327 9.40%
Connecticut 308,863 9.35%
Oregon 293,840 8.47%
District of Columbia 45,023 8.24%
Idaho 103,686 7.66%
Washington 431,021 7.20%
Georgia 610,402 7.04%
Massachusetts 411,192 6.80%
Kansas 169,376 6.59%
Delaware 51,762 6.50%
North Carolina 532,553 6.45%
Nebraska 98,211 5.99%
Virginia 412,416 5.78%
Maryland 298,072 5.68%
Oklahoma 173,552 5.22%
Arkansas 116,396 4.45%
Indiana 254,219 4.32%
Wisconsin 217,550 4.18%
Wyoming 19,830 4.12%
Pennsylvania 436,254 3.72%
South Carolina 148,345 3.68%
Alaska 22,649 3.64%
Minnesota 171,042 3.55%
Iowa 97,876 3.51%
Michigan 292,996 3.10%
Tennessee 171,646 3.04%
Louisiana 106,872 2.68%
Alabama 107,806 2.50%
Missouri 129,329 2.37%
Ohio 230,467 2.15%
New Hampshire 26,607 2.14%
Kentucky 80,450 2.05%
South Dakota 14,403 1.98%
Mississippi 46,561 1.72%
Montana 13,458 1.51%
Hawaii 17,442 1.50%
North Dakota 8,853 1.48%
West Virginia 18,207 1.06%
Vermont 5,950 1.01%
Maine 12,576 1.00%
  1. ^ a b “Selected Social Characteristics in the United States: 2007”. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2008-10-09.
  2. ^ Instituto Cervantes (Enciclopedia del español en Estados Unidos)
  3. ^ Instituto Cervantes’ Yearbook 2006-07
  4. ^ “Más ‘speak spanish’ que en España”. Retrieved 2007-10-06.