Language Use

Decennial Data on Language Use

The Decennial Census occurs every 10 years, in years ending in zero, to count the population and housing units for the entire United States. Its primary purpose is to provide the population counts that determine how seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are apportioned.

Data about language were collected during the 1980, 1990, and 2000 decennial censuses using what is known as the "long form." These questions were asked of a sample of persons and housing units (approximately 1 in 6 households).

DATA TABLES, PRODUCTS AND REPORTS

Census 2000

Language Use and English-Speaking Ability: 2000 (C2KBR-29)

• Report [PDF – 482k]

Special Tabulations

• Detailed Language Spoken at Home for the Population 5 Years and Over (STP224) [XLS - 36M]
• Language Spoken at Home for the Citizen Population 18 Years and Over Who Speak English Less Than "Very Well" (STP194) [XLS - 866k]

PHC-T 2000

• Summary Tables on Language Use and English Ability: 2000 (PHC-T-20)
• Ability to Speak English by Language Spoken at Home (PHC-T-37)
• America Speaks: A Demographic Profile of Foreign-Language Speakers for the United States: 2000 (PHC-T-42)

1990 Census

Summary Tables on Language Use and English Ability: 1990 (from CPH-L-96, CPH-L-133, and CPH-L-159)

CPH-L-96

• Table 1. Language Use and English Ability, Persons 5 Years and Over, by State: 1990 Census. [TXT - 9k]
• Table 2. Language Use and English Ability, Persons 5 to 17 Years, by State: 1990 Census. [TXT - 8k]
• Table 3. Language Use and English Ability, Persons 18 Years and Over, by State: 1990 Census. [TXT - 9k]
• Table 4. Languages Spoken at Home by Persons 5 Years and Over, by State: 1990 Census. [TXT - 20k]



CPH-L-133

• Table 5. Detailed Language Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for Persons 5 Years and Over--50 Languages with Greatest Number of Speakers: United States 1990 [TXT - 11k]
• Full report. 1990 CPH-L-133: Language Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for United States, Regions and States: 1990 [PDF - 13.4M]. The entire CPH-L-133 table package contains a complete listing of all languages reported (up to 350 individual language categories) for each state by ability to speak English. There are 68 pages of data.



CPH-L-159

• Table 1. Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English, Linguistic Isolation, and Age for U.S. and States: 1990 [PDF - 19M]
• Table 2. Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English, Linguistic Isolation, Citizenship, Age, and Race for U.S. and States: 1990 [PDF - 6.6M]
• Table 3. Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English, Linguistic Isolation, and Age for Persons of Hispanic Origin for U.S. and States: 1990 [PDF - 2.3M]
• Table 4A/4B. Selected Characteristics of Households by Household Language for U.S. and States: 1990 [PDF - 3.8M]
• Table 5. General and Social Characteristics by Language Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for U.S.: 1990 [PDF - 9.6M]
• Table 6. Education and Labor Force Characteristics by Language Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for U.S.: 1990 [PDF - 12M]
• Table 7. Selected Characteristics of Households by Household Language and Linguistic Isolation for U.S.: 1990 [PDF - 17M]
• Full table package. 1990 CPH-L-159: Language Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for United States, Regions and States: 1990 [PDF - 70M].

AVAILABLE TABULATIONS

Decennial census tables on languages spoken at home and English-speaking ability are available from American FactFinder for the 1990 Census and for Census 2000.

Tabulations from the most recent and historical censuses are also available from the Census of Population and Housing Publications Web site.

OTHER TECHNICAL AND ANALYTICAL REPORTS

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

• Report & Tables [PDF – 189k]

RELATED PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS

Language Use and Linguistic Isolation: Historical Data and Methodological Issues. Paul Siegel, Elizabeth Martin, and Rosalind Bruno. Presented at the FCSM Statistical Policy Seminar, Bethesda, MD, November 8-9, 2000. [PDF - 221k]

Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-born Population of the United States: 1850-1990. Campbell J. Gibson and Emily Lennon, Population Division Working Paper No. 29, February 1999.

How Good is "How Well"? An Examination of the Census English-Speaking Ability Question. Robert Kominski. Presented at the 1989 Annual Meeting of the American Statistical Association, Washington, D.C., August 6-11, 1989. [PDF - 599k]