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Census:
English on Decline in USA
New data released by the U.S. Census Department show that the number
of Americans who do not speak English has soared in the past ten years.
Eighteen percent of Americans do not speak English in their own homes.
By their own acknowledgement, over 17 million of these Americans do not
speak English very well. Nearly seven million speak little or no English.
These
statistics come from the U.S. Census 2000 Supplementary Survey of U.S. households.
The data include only persons age five and older, and living in households.
(This excludes such housing as universities, prisons and military bases.)
The data show that the portion of Americans who speak poorly or not at all
grew nearly sixty percent since 1990. Several states saw their English-deficient
population triple, including Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah. Missouri's grew
nearly five fold.
Eleven millions Californians, or two out of five residents, do not speak
English in their home; this population grew by more than 2.3 million.
One out of nine Californians can now understand little or no English.
Texas ranked second behind California, with over 5.4 million people who
do not speak English in their homes, followed by New York (4.4 million)
and Florida (3 million). Even these numbers may reflect a serious
undercount of the illegal immigrant population.
The vast
majority of non-English speakers (75%) live in just seven states, Arizona,
California, New York, New Jersey, Florida, Texas and Illinois, all of which commonly
taught immigrant children in foreign languages as of 1998. (California
and Arizona have since passed referenda requiring English immersion in many
circumstances.)
 % of residents who do not speak
English in home: Red: far above
national average
White: near national average
Blue: below national Average
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Portion of non-English speakers:
Red: Increasing faster than average
Pink: Increasing slower than average
White: nearly steady
Blue: Falling
|
| State |
Population over 5. |
Persons who do not speak English in home, 2000 |
% of total population |
Don't speak English well, 2000 |
% of total population |
% increase, 1990-2000 |
| US Total: |
254,762,734 |
41,601,418 |
16.3% |
10,513,832 |
4.1% |
57.6% |
| Alabama |
4,032,177 |
122,131 |
3.0% |
33,114 |
0.8% |
147.8% |
| Alaska |
564,976 |
64,134 |
11.4% |
9,838 |
1.7% |
28.9% |
| Arizona |
4,653,563 |
1,069,268 |
23.0% |
302,126 |
6.5% |
146.8% |
| Arkansas |
2,421,122 |
87,142 |
3.6% |
21,476 |
0.9% |
126.6% |
| California |
30,591,878 |
10,938,446 |
35.8% |
3,261,020 |
10.7% |
35.2% |
| Colorado |
3,890,345 |
506,461 |
13.0% |
135,086 |
3.5% |
204.3% |
| Connecticut |
3,078,965 |
521,763 |
16.9% |
89,791 |
2.9% |
24.2% |
| Delaware |
710,047 |
58,972 |
8.3% |
11,219 |
1.6% |
106.3% |
| D.C. |
503,809 |
71,543 |
14.2% |
17,809 |
3.5% |
22.3% |
| Florida |
14,666,086 |
3,004,797 |
20.5% |
759,654 |
5.2% |
50.0% |
| Georgia |
7,364,707 |
585,207 |
7.9% |
180,703 |
2.5% |
272.0% |
| Hawaii |
1,100,761 |
281,204 |
25.5% |
52,898 |
4.8% |
11.2% |
| Idaho |
1,174,051 |
97,231 |
8.3% |
25,182 |
2.1% |
119.5% |
| Illinois |
11,229,684 |
2,020,772 |
18.0% |
514,585 |
4.6% |
67.0% |
| Indiana |
5,486,661 |
405,028 |
7.4% |
55,929 |
1.0% |
91.5% |
| Iowa |
2,639,397 |
144,288 |
5.5% |
43,819 |
1.7% |
226.4% |
| Kansas |
2,425,262 |
145,982 |
6.0% |
20,578 |
0.8% |
2.4% |
| Kentucky |
3,664,001 |
127,405 |
3.5% |
19,904 |
0.5% |
70.4% |
| Louisiana |
4,027,441 |
336,840 |
8.4% |
41,441 |
1.0% |
2.4% |
| Maine |
1,170,632 |
88,243 |
7.5% |
5,131 |
0.4% |
-28.2% |
| Maryland |
4,814,882 |
583,498 |
12.1% |
106,961 |
2.2% |
72.0% |
| Massachusetts |
5,737,317 |
1,010,284 |
17.6% |
232,191 |
4.0% |
46.2% |
| Michigan |
9,013,621 |
716,414 |
7.9% |
105,067 |
1.2% |
50.4% |
| Minnesota |
4,456,486 |
371,122 |
8.3% |
80,041 |
1.8% |
159.4% |
| Mississippi |
2,555,633 |
73,214 |
2.9% |
10,483 |
0.4% |
-55.2% |
| Missouri |
5,050,366 |
253,805 |
5.0% |
43,849 |
0.9% |
383.0% |
| Montana |
827,250 |
39,091 |
4.7% |
3,646 |
0.4% |
18.5% |
| Nebraska |
1,545,682 |
100,714 |
6.5% |
31,800 |
2.1% |
276.3% |
| Nevada |
1,830,618 |
382,791 |
20.9% |
85,006 |
4.6% |
196.3% |
| New Hampshire |
1,123,780 |
83,817 |
7.5% |
7,931 |
0.7% |
5.0% |
| New Jersey |
7,659,421 |
1,861,584 |
24.3% |
411,455 |
5.4% |
47.9% |
| New Mexico |
1,655,682 |
563,723 |
34.0% |
69,790 |
4.2% |
24.3% |
| New York |
17,154,669 |
4,415,063 |
25.7% |
1,079,854 |
6.3% |
30.4% |
| No Carolina |
7,262,195 |
480,010 |
6.6% |
158,769 |
2.2% |
323.6% |
| No Dakota |
581,251 |
32,737 |
5.6% |
2,933 |
0.5% |
-3.3% |
| Ohio |
10,308,865 |
549,341 |
5.3% |
78,991 |
0.8% |
20.5% |
| Oklahoma |
3,116,855 |
210,187 |
6.7% |
47,800 |
1.5% |
133.9% |
| Oregon |
3,118,114 |
291,922 |
9.4% |
89,222 |
2.9% |
135.2% |
| Pennsylvania |
11,134,983 |
840,164 |
7.5% |
158,093 |
1.4% |
46.3% |
| Rhode Island |
947,289 |
169,542 |
17.9% |
42,762 |
4.5% |
35.5% |
| So Carolina |
3,625,224 |
174,833 |
4.8% |
48,826 |
1.3% |
245.2% |
| So Dakota |
677,784 |
32,525 |
4.8% |
4,729 |
0.7% |
21.6% |
| Tennesee |
5,169,948 |
238,616 |
4.6% |
57,124 |
1.1% |
210.5% |
| Texas |
18,707,080 |
5,424,068 |
29.0% |
1,545,121 |
8.3% |
90.3% |
| Utah |
1,990,223 |
227,074 |
11.4% |
46,931 |
2.4% |
197.4% |
| Vermont |
554,145 |
28,191 |
5.1% |
2,903 |
0.5% |
18.1% |
| Virginia |
6,381,599 |
660,535 |
10.4% |
125,451 |
2.0% |
81.2% |
| Washington |
5,382,867 |
689,101 |
12.8% |
163,347 |
3.0% |
111.0% |
| West Virginia |
1,669,364 |
37,318 |
2.2% |
3,975 |
0.2% |
-25.7% |
| Wisconsin |
4,864,322 |
358,461 |
7.4% |
64,906 |
1.3% |
79.6% |
| Wyoming |
449,654 |
24,816 |
5.5% |
2,572 |
0.6% |
-2.1% |
(Source: ProEnglish analysis of US Census Department data)
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