This Map Shows The Most Commonly Spoken Language in Every US State, Excluding English and Spanish.

The United States is home to a melting pot of diverse languages. This map shows the most commonly spoken languages in the US after English and Spanish. The data on the map was provided by The US Census Bureau’s annual survey that asks respondents, among other questions, what language they mainly speak in their homes. 


Source: Business Insider

A variety of languages are shown on the map. German takes the lead after English and Spanish as the most commonly spoken language in nine different states followed by French which is most common in six states plus D.C. Vietnamese comes after French as being the most common language in six states. 

Here is a rank of all languages:

1. German

Estimated number of speakers: 905,326

States where it’s commonly spoken: Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina.

2. French

Estimated number of speakers: 1,184,736

States where it’s commonly spoken: Louisiana, North Carolina, Maryland, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire.

3. Vietnamese

Estimated number of speakers: 1,527,371

States where it’s commonly spoken: Texas, Oklahoma, Oregon, Kansas, Iowa, Mississippi.

4. Chinese

Estimated number of speakers: 2,155,939

States where it’s commonly spoken: New York, Washington, Arkansas, Missouri, Utah.

5. Portuguese 

Estimated number of speakers: 763,340

States where it’s commonly spoken: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island.

6. Korean 

Estimated number of speakers: 1,104,145

States where it’s commonly spoken: Virginia, Alabama, Georgia

7. Arabic

Estimated number of speakers: 1,229,949

States where it’s commonly spoken: West Virginia, Tennessee, Michigan


8. Navajo 

Estimated number of speakers: 166,856

States where it’s commonly spoken: New Mexico, Arizona

9. French

Estimated number of speakers: 900,596

States where it’s commonly spoken: Florida, Delaware

10. Tagalog 

Estimated number of speakers: 1,753,712

States where it’s commonly spoken: California, Nevada

11. Polish

Estimated number of speakers: 512,332

12. Nepali 

Estimated number of speakers: 202,218

13. Hmong

Estimated number of speakers: 232,161

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3 thoughts on “This Map Shows The Most Commonly Spoken Language in Every US State, Excluding English and Spanish.”

  1. Why does French appear at rank 2 and 9? Should 9 be labelled French creole? Great article though! Thank you.

  2. I guess the “rank” that you provided is by number of states that have this as the most commonly spoken language (excluding English and Spanish)? That wasn’t immediately clear. Even so, it’s unclear why you would rank French above Vietnamese since they both have six states.

    It looks like #9 was meant to be Haitian Creole.

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