The United States is a melting pot of languages, with estimates suggesting that between 350 to 430 different languages are spoken across the nation.
English unsurprisingly dominates nationwide, with nearly four-fifths of Americans stating in the last census that they only speak English at home.
This makes English the de facto official language of America, despite no official language ever being legally or formally recognised in the country.
Following English, Spanish is the second most widely-spoken language, used in 62 percent of non-English speaking households. This gives America the world’s second-largest Spanish-speaking population, after Mexico.
Language blog WordFinderX utilised household population data from the last census to identify the most spoken languages – excluding English and Spanish – across the United States.
By dissecting the Census Bureau data by regions, states, major cities, and even individual districts and neighbourhoods, the study highlighted the diversity of American households and unveiled some unexpected trends.
A recent study revealed that German is the third most spoken language in the USA, coming in after English and Spanish, with a strong presence in 13 different states.
Far from being confined to states with historically high levels of German immigration, forming America’s “German Belt”, unexpected states like Alabama are also home to significant numbers of German speakers.
WordFinderX data also highlighted that French, Chinese, Arabic, and Vietnamese trail behind, being the dominating languages in far fewer states.
Surprisingly, major languages such as Polish, Tagalog, and Japanese, only took the top spot in one state each – Illinois, Nevada, and Hawaii.
The study went further, looking at regional language trends and city-specific data, revealing interesting patterns particularly in the Western US where nearly half of Asian Americans reside. There, Tagalog stands out in nine major cities, closely followed by Chinese and Vietnamese.
In the Southwestern cities, Vietnamese also takes a prominent position, especially in Texas, demonstrating the diverse linguistic landscape of the United States.
Asian languages have proven popular in the Midwest, with French being the most spoken language in many cities. However, Hmong, Burmese, and Nepali are the top languages in Milwaukee, Fort Wayne, and Omaha respectively.
In the Southeast, Arabic is the most spoken language in six major cities, including Nashville, Memphis, and Little Rock. In the far northeast, Greek is the most spoken language after English and Spanish in Wilmington, Delaware, while Portuguese holds that spot in Newark.
Yet, it’s French, Chinese, and Haitian Creole that dominate in more cities than any other languages in the region, including Baltimore, New York, and Boston respectively.
