U.S. Department of Commerce

Language Use

Skip top of page navigation
Census.gov › People and Households › Language Use Main › Data on Language Use › ACS Data on Language Use

In this Section:

American Community Survey Data on Language Use

One-Year Estimates

Beginning with the 2005 American Community Survey (ACS), and continuing every year thereafter, one-year estimates are available for geographic areas with a population of 65,000 or more. This includes the nation, all states and the District of Columbia, all congressional districts, approximately 800 counties, and 500 metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas, among others.

Multiyear Estimates

In 2008, the ACS released its first multiyear estimates based on ACS data collected from 2005 through 2007. These three-year estimates are available for geographic areas with a population of 20,000 or more, including the nation, all states and the District of Columbia, all congressional districts, approximately 1,800 counties, and 900 metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas, among others.

For areas with a population less than 20,000, five-year estimates (data collected from 2005 to 2009) will be available in 2010.


DATA TABLES, PRODUCTS AND REPORTS

Native North American Languages Spoken at Home in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2006-2010 (ACS)

Language Use in the United States: 2007 (ACS-12)

Detailed Language Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Older by States: 2006-2008


AVAILABLE TABULATIONS

There are 35 recurring tables on language use and English-speaking ability available from American Factfinder since 2000.


OTHER TECHNICAL AND ANALYTICAL REPORTS

Comparison of the Estimates on Language Use and English-Speaking Ability from the ACS, the C2SS, and Census 2000

Language and English-Speaking Ability Fact Sheet

The Language Spoken at Home Fact Sheet highlights the legal requirements federal, state, and local uses of the American Community Survey data as well as the history of each question.


RELATED PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS

Language Projections: 2010 to 2020. Jennifer Ortman and Hyon B. Shin. Presented at the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, Las Vegas, NV, August 20-23, 2011.

Language Projections: 2010 to 2020. Hyon B. Shin and Jennifer Ortman. Presented at the 18th Federal Forecasters Conference, Washington, D.C., April 21, 2011.

Language Acquisition of U.S. Children. Robert A. Kominski and Hyon B. Shin. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, Dallas, TX, April 14-18, 2010.

People Who Spoke a Language Other Than English at Home by Hispanic Origin and Race: 2009 ACSBR/09-1. Tallese D. Johnson, Merarys Ríos, Malcolm P. Drewery, Sharon R. Enni and Myoung Ouk Ki. Issued October 2010.

The American Community Survey Webinar Series (October – November 2008)

This four-part webinar series was presented over the Internet every week starting in October 30, 2008. This webinar series was produced jointly with the Census Committee of the Federal Interagency Committee on Limited English Proficiency.

  1. An Overview of the American Community Survey
    Presentation [PPT 5.2M] | Webinar Transcript [PDF 69k] | Webinar [WMV 6.0M]
  2. American Community Survey Data Products
    Presentation [PPT 2.4M] | Webinar Transcript [PDF 70k] | Webinar [WMV 2.3M]
  3. Geographic Areas and Concepts for The American Community Survey
    Presentation [PPT 2.3M] | Webinar Transcript [PDF 56k] | Webinar [WMV 5.1M]
  4. Language Data from the American Community Survey
    Presentation [PPT 219k] | Webinar Transcript [PDF 70k] | Webinar [WMV 11.2M]

Language Needs of School-Age Children. Robert A. Kominski, Hyon B. Shin, and Karen Marotz. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, New Orleans, LA, April 16-19, 2008.


How Does Ability to Speak English Affect Earnings? Jennifer Cheeseman Day and Hyon B. Shin. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, Philadephia, PA, March 31-April 2, 2005.


Spreading, Growing, Adapting: Non-English Language Use and English Ability of School-Aged Children in the United States: 2000. Kurt J. Bauman, Nikki L. Graf, and Rosalind R. Bruno. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, Atlanta, GA, May 9-11, 2002.


[PDF] or PDF denotes a file in Adobe’s Portable Document Format. To view the file, you will need the Adobe® Reader® Off Site available free from Adobe. [MSWord] or the letters [doc] indicate a document is in the Microsoft® Word Format (DOC). To view the file, you will need the Microsoft® Word Viewer Off Site available for free from Microsoft®. [Excel] or the letters [xls] indicate a document is in the Microsoft® Excel® Spreadsheet Format (XLS). To view the file, you will need the Microsoft® Excel® Viewer Off Site available for free from Microsoft®. This symbol Off Site indicates a link to a non-government web site. Our linking to these sites does not constitute an endorsement of any products, services or the information found on them. Once you link to another site you are subject to the policies of the new site.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau | Language Use |  Last Revised: April 05, 2012