Languages in the United States: More Diverse Than you Think

I’ve written about the languages present in many other countries, but I thought I’d delve into the language diversity of my home country, the United States.

In March of this year (2025), for the first time in its history, the US designated English as its official language. Prior to that, we had none. (I also did not know about that until I did research for this post.) This meant that, in theory, the entire country could have shifted to a different language without any kind of legal obligation to speak English.

Realistically, that wouldn’t actually happen. The real reason we went so long without an official language is more likely to do with the diversity of cultures and languages that have both contributed to this country’s existence and continue to exist here.

While this distinction is largely symbolic, I think it sends a certain kind of message to foreigners and citizens alike.

In fact, 430 languages are used within the US (which still pales in comparison to Indonesia’s 700!) There’s a lot to go over, so let’s start!

English

If you’re from the US like I am, then you already know how common English is.

I mentioned above that it has only recently become the official national language, but many states recognized it well before that, often alongside other languages.

77% of the population speaks English at home (i.e. as their first language). That means that, in turn, 33% speak other languages at home.

Obviously, if you’re traveling here, English is your best bet for getting around! But what about these other languages spoken “at home”?

Spanish

Another unsurprising one, Spanish is the second most-spoken language in the US.

Given our proximity to Latin America and the history of Spanish presence across a lot of what is now the United States, it makes sense.

Of the 33% of people who don’t speak English at home, about 61% speak Spanish. That’s about 14% of the US population!

I live far to the north of the US (about 2 hours from Canada, in fact!). I would be hard-pressed to find any native Spanish speakers here. They do exist, but it’s far less common than in states further south like California, New Mexico, and Arizona.

If you’re a Spanish speaker, or more proficient with Spanish, you’re gonna get around a lot easier in the southwestern end of the country and in big cities. Smaller towns might have a good Spanish-speaking presence, but there’s no guarantee. It’s still the second most-spoken language in many states.

Chinese Languages in the United States

Chinese is the third most common language in the US.

Because “Chinese” is actually multiple languages under one big umbrella, the population of speakers definitely gets higher than it should. But that’s beside the point. They’re all still languages spoken by immigrants that came from China.

With the number of big cities that have a “Chinatown” district, it shouldn’t be too surprising that Chinese is pretty common.

In fact, my friend’s grandparents live with his parents, and they only speak Cantonese. He speaks to them in Cantonese, but I have only been to his house once before and I never hear him speak the language outside of that.

This is what I mean when I say “Speaks it at home”. You might not hear anything besides English spoken in public, but within people’s homes and cultural communities, you’ll hear a lot more.

Chinatown districts are your best bet for finding Chinese speakers. That doesn’t mean you can’t find them elsewhere, though. Many family-run Chinese restaurants have native speakers. (In fact, my friend’s family owns a Chinese restaurant in my town called Chinatown!)

In addition, many west- and east-coast states have a high presence of Chinese speakers, especially those with larger cities and higher populations!

Native Languages in the United States

Only about 0.1% of the US population speaks a Native American language.

That’s actually a wild statistic to me. I knew the amount was low, but that’s so much lower than I would have ever expected. For reference, that’s about 350,000 people.

Oh, and there are 177 indigenous languages still present here. That’s 350,000 people speaking 177 languages. It makes sense when you realize that some of these have less than 5 first-language speakers.

Navajo is by far the highest in this population, with 155,000 speakers (making it the 31st most-spoken language here). In New Mexico and Arizona, this is the second most-spoken language!

That leaves 200,000-ish people for the remaining 176 indigenous languages.

Unless you’re near reservations (and sometimes even that isn’t enough), you won’t encounter many of these languages. They’re becoming less and less common as time goes on.

Other Languages in the United States

There are a lot of languages here, and there’s no way I can list them all.

But every single one says something about the history of the United States and its influences, both internally and externally.

There are a few more languages with at least a million speakers, listed here in order of how many speakers they have:

Tagalog
Vietnamese
Arabic
French
Korean
Russian

In spite of it not being on this list, Germany is often the third most common language you’ll encounter in many states, especially towards the center of the US.

French

I think French is one of the more interesting of these, given the heavy ties between the US and France. France has had more of an influence on our country than we probably realize. They helped us defeat the British in the Revolutionary War, sold us giant swathes of land, and conducted a lot of trade within the New World.

This also means they’ve had a noticeable effect on indigenous populations. My hometown (Coeur d’Alene, Idaho) is named after a nearby indigenous tribe that was given the name Coeur d’Alene by the French! In addition, nearby you can find lake Pend Oreille.

You’re most likely to encounter French in Louisiana, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The latter three have such a high presence of French because of their proximity to French Canada.

Conclusion

While we may not always see it, the United States is rife with languages.

In our day to day we only hear English, but you never know what language someone might start speaking once they get home.

Even the English language itself is full of influences from other languages, French being one of the biggest. It fills a similar role to what Latin used to fill, and is a reflection of the world’s continuing interactions and influences.

I hope this was a helpful (or at least enjoyable) read! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please let me know below! I check this blog every day, so I’ll get back to you ASAP!