The Most Commonly Spoken Foreign Languages In Each State

The Chinese population in Alabama increased by 48% between 2000 and 2010, the fourth largest increase for any single ethnicity, according to the state’s Public Health department. Today, residents who identify as Asian are concentrated in a few counties, including Jefferson, Madison, and Mobile.

There are at least 20 different Native languages spoken in Alaska. The state is home to two of the most common Native language families in the world — Eskimo-Aleut and Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit. The Eskimo and Aleut are indigenous people native to some of the most northern parts of the globe.

Aleut has two dialects, and Eskimo consists of the Yupik and Inuit dialects, generally divided geographically, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. Yupik is spoken in Siberia and southwestern Alaska, and Inuit in northern Alaska, Canada, and Greenland.

Arizona is one of two states where the leading foreign language, aside from Spanish, is Navajo. Native American Navajo people are also referred to as the Diné, meaning “the People” or “children of the people.” The Navajo Nation stretches over 27,000 square miles across Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.

Arkansas is one of two states where Ilocano, Samoan, Hawaiian, or other Austronesian languages are the most commonly spoken, aside from Spanish. Of the nearly 7,000 state residents who speak them at home, just over a third actually speak them “very well,” according to Statistical Atlas, a statistical data and analysis site.

In California, 3.38% of the population speaks a Chinese language. The state is home to the largest Chinese-speaking population in the country.

Chinese is the most commonly spoken foreign language in 19 states, including Colorado. Chinese immigrants were the first Asian immigrants to reach and settle in the Great Plains region, moving from California after the end of the Gold Rush era.

Portuguese is the leading foreign language in three states, including Connecticut. More than 36,000 state residents speak Portuguese, or about 1.07% of Connecticut’s population.

Portuguese immigrants first started moving to New England in the late 19th century. Some of them settled in Connecticut, mostly New Haven.

Delaware is one of 19 states where the leading foreign language is forms of Chinese, such as Mandarin and Cantonese. There are pockets of Chinese speakers in the towns of Hockessin and Newark.

The Sunshine State is home to the largest Haitian-speaking population in the country. Of the nearly 855,000 people who speak Haitian in the U.S., nearly 428,000 live in Florida, and most of them speak Haitian Creole, one of the official languages of Haiti.

Georgia is one of 19 states with Chinese as the most commonly spoken foreign language, after Spanish. The cities with the largest Asian population in the state are Morrow, Johns Creek, Duluth, and Clarkston.

Ilocano is the third-largest language spoken in the Philippines, with an estimated 7 million people there speaking it as a first language. Only about 466,000 people in the U.S. speak the languages, with 130,000 living in Hawaii.

Though a very small share of people in Idaho speak Chinese at home, it’s still the most commonly spoken language in the state, after Spanish. About 0.31% of residents speak a Chinese language, compared to 8.1% who speak Spanish.

Illinois has both the largest number of residents who speak Polish and who have Polish ancestry. There are over 173,000 people who speak Polish in the state, the most of any state. Chicago has an especially heavy concentration of people whose ancestors migrated to the city from Poland over a century ago.

Indiana is one of four states where German is the most commonly spoken foreign language, after Spanish. Germans have been in Indiana since the early 19th century. At 31,812, Indiana has the most German speakers of any state. Many of them are Amish communities that speak a German dialect.

Despite Chinese, in its numerous forms, being the most commonly spoken foreign language in Iowa, after Spanish, only 0.42% of the Midwest state’s population currently speak the language at home.

Excluding Spanish, the most commonly spoken foreign language in Kansas is Vietnamese. However, only nearly 0.5% of the population speak Vietnamese compared with the 7.8% who speak Spanish.

German is the most commonly spoken foreign language in the Bluegrass State, after Spanish, but only 0.32% of the population speak it. Germans are one of the oldest immigrant groups to come to Louisville, the state’s largest city, arriving there more than 200 years ago.

Considering the state’s history, not surprisingly, French is the most commonly spoken foreign language in Louisiana. Does Mardi Gras ring any bells?

Maine, which shares a border with the French-speaking part of Canada, is home to quite a few French speakers — about 2.71% of residents speak the language at home. When removing Spanish from the equation, French is the leading foreign language in four states.

Of Maryland’s 6 million residents, some 70,000 speak forms of Chinese — about 1.24% of the population. Chinese is the leading foreign language behind Spanish. A total of 8.3% of state residents speak Spanish at home.

The largest Portuguese festival in the world — the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament — takes place in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The whaling industry in the 19th century drew Portuguese sailors to Massachusetts from the Azores and the Cape Verde Islands.

Michigan is one of two states where Arabic is the leading spoken foreign language, aside from Spanish. There are about 145,000 state residents who speak the language, or 1.54% of the population. Michigan is home to the largest share of residents with Lebanese and Iraqi ancestry, both of which are Arabic-speaking countries.

Afro-Asiatic languages are languages of common origin found in the northern part of Africa, Western Asia, and the Arabian Peninsula. Globally, about 250 Afro-Asiatic languages are spoken today by approximately 250 million people worldwide. In the U.S., the only state where these languages are most common, after Spanish and English, is Minnesota.

Mississippi is one of five states with Vietnamese as its most commonly spoken foreign language, aside from Spanish. Like many states along the Gulf Coast, Mississippi received immigrants from Vietnam after the war ended there more than four decades ago. Many Vietnamese immigrants opened shrimp-fishing businesses along the Gulf Coast.

Until a few years ago, German was the most commonly spoken foreign language in Missouri, after Spanish. Today, German is currently the third most common foreign language in the state after Spanish and Chinese. Chinese immigrants started moving in the St. Louis area in the 1860s, looking for job opportunities in mines and factories.

There are nine Native languages spoken in Montana, five of which — Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Cree, Crow, and Salish — have the highest share of speakers of those languages in the U.S..

Until recently, German was the most commonly spoken language in Montana after English and Spanish. German speakers from Russia moved to the eastern part of Montana in the early 20th century along railroad towns like Billings and Missoula. Today, German is the third most common spoken language after Native languages.

Of the 1.9 million people living in Nebraska, about 6,500 speak Vietnamese, not even half a percentage of the population. Still, it is the most common foreign language in the state after Spanish.

Nevada is the only state where the most common foreign spoken language, not including Spanish, is Tagalog. Of the nearly 3 million residents in Nevada, and about 80,000 of them speak Tagalog, one of the languages spoken in the Philippines.

French is the leading foreign language, after Spanish, in New Hampshire, although the difference is not very big. Just 2.4% of state residents speak Spanish, while 1.4% speak French. New Hampshire is one of four New England states that border Quebec, Canada’s French-speaking province.

After Spanish, the next most commonly spoken foreign language in New Jersey, the most densely populated state, is Chinese. The Chinese immigrants first came to New Jersey in 1870, settling in Belleville.

Like Arizona, the most common spoken leading foreign language in New Mexico, after Spanish, is Navajo — the country’s largest Native American people. The Navajo Nation stretches over 27,000 square miles across Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.

New York is home to the second largest Chinese-speaking population in the nation. More than 587,000 people in the state speak a Chinese language, or 3.19% of the state’s population.

North Carolina is one of four states where French is the most commonly spoken language aside from English and Spanish. Towns with significant French-speaking populations include Waves and Corolla, on the Outer Banks, and Caroleen.

While just over 5,600 North Dakota residents speak German at home, about a third of people in the state have German ancestry. German is the leading foreign language after Spanish, with 0.8% of the population speaking it — about 1 percentage point less than the 1.8% who speak Spanish.

Yiddish, Pennsylvania Dutch, or other West Germanic languages have overtaken Arabic and Chinese as the most commonly spoken foreign languages in Ohio after Spanish. However, the difference is small — 44,168 (0.40%) residents speak Arabic, 46,420 (0.42%) residents speak a Chinese language, and 54,186 (0.49%) speak Yiddish, Pennsylvania Dutch or other West Germanic languages.

The most commonly spoken foreign language other than Spanish in Oklahoma is Vietnamese. Oklahoma City has a Vietnamese community, with many living in an area also known as “Little Saigon,” which is home to restaurants, supermarkets, and nightlife.

Oregon is home to some 33,000 Vietnamese speakers. Vietnamese is the leading foreign language after Spanish in the state, even though only 0.84% of people living in Oregon speak it.

Chinese is the most commonly spoken foreign language, after Spanish, in six states in the Northeast and East Coast. Pennsylvania is one such state, where about 89,000 people, or 0.74% of the state’s population, speak a Chinese language.

Portuguese is the leading foreign language in three states, including Rhode Island. Portuguese immigrants came to Rhode Island in the late 19th century, mainly from the Azores and Madeira, and settled in Providence, Bristol, and Pawtucket.

Despite the small share, German is still the most commonly spoken foreign language in the state after Spanish. Germans have been in South Carolina since the late 17th century, and a vibrant community of artisans and tradesmen developed in Charleston in the 18th century.

The leading language in South Dakota other than English and Spanish is a Native language. Dakota, along with Lakota, are two native American peoples that speak the Siouan languages of the Great Plains.

Arabic is the most commonly spoken foreign language, aside from Spanish, in Tennessee, even though only 0.38% of state residents speak the language. The number of people in the U.S. identifying as having Arabic-speaking ancestry increased by more than 84% between 2000 and 2010. Just about 24,000 people identify as having Arab ancestry in Tennessee. The largest number of new Arab immigrants came from Egypt, Iraq, and Sudan.

In Texas, the leading foreign language after Spanish is Vietnamese, though only 0.84% of the population currently speak it at home. A considerably larger share of state residents speak Spanish, at nearly 29.3%. This is likely because Texas is one of the states bordering Mexico.

Chinese is the most commonly spoken foreign language in Utah, recently overtaking Portuguese. (Utah is home to an ever-growing Brazilian population, likely due to the Mormon Church’s influence on Brazilian immigration in the early 20th century.) The first Chinese immigrants to move to Utah in the 1860s were railroad workers who were building the Transcontinental Railroad.

Vermont is home to a considerable share of residents with French ancestry. This is not surprising since Vermont is one of four New England states that border Quebec, Canada’s French-speaking province.

Of the nearly 8.5 million people who call Virginia home, over 62,000, or 0.78% of the state’s population, speak a form of Chinese language at home. Still, Chinese languages are the leading foreign languages in Virginia after Spanish, which 7.3% of the Virignians speak at home. Most of Virginia’s residents with Asian ancestry live in Herndon, Fairfax, Vienna, Blacksburg, and Manassas Park.

The most commonly spoken language in Washington after English and Spanish is a form of Chinese, including Mandarin or Cantonese. Chinese immigrants first started settling along the West Coast in the mid-19th century.

The most common foreign language after Spanish in West Virginia is a form of Chinese — even though barely 0.17% of the state’s 1.8 million population speak a Chinese language at home.

Hmong is the leading foreign language — behind Spanish — only in Wisconsin. The Hmong came to Wisconsin from Southeast Asia as refugees beginning in the 1970s following the Vietnam War. In Wisconsin, large Hmong communities developed in La Crosse, Sheboygan, Green Bay, Wausau, and Milwaukee.

Of the 581,024 people who inhabit sparsely populated Wyoming, only 2,230 speak a Native language at home. Still, Native languages have recently overtaken German as the most commonly spoken language after English or Spanish.