In Some States, Native North American Languages Were Among the Most Spoken Languages Other Than English

Some of the 70-plus Native North American languages spoken across the nation were among the most spoken languages after English in nine states, according to detailed data tables released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Roughly half (47%) of those who spoke a Native North American language spoke Navajo. Given the nation’s large number of Navajo speakers, Navajo was among the top 15 languages in four states: Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.

More than 1 in 5 people age 5 and older spoke a language other than English at home in 2021, according to 2017-2021 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates.

The new language tables update a 2015 table package with data on more than 500 languages and language groups spoken in the United States, representing linguistic diversity from around the world.

The data highlight over 70 Native North American languages and the states where they are most common.

Native North American language use declined by 6% — from 364,331 speakers in 2013 to 342,311 in 2021. The total U.S. population age 5 and older was more than 310 million in 2021 and about 67 million spoke a language other than English at home.****

The number of people who speak Native North American languages has decreased for many of the most common languages in this group but some languages saw sharper declines while others remained stable (Figure 1).

Among the most common Native North American languages that had fewer speakers in 2021 than in 2013: Navajo (166,826 vs. 161,174); Zuni (9,615 vs. 8,109); and Choctaw (9,635 vs. 7,260). The number of Cherokee (10,440) and Hopi (7,105) speakers did not significantly change.

Of the 29 Native North American languages for which both 2013 and 2021 data were available, 10 had fewer speakers; three (Northern Paiute, Ottawa, and Pacific Gulf Yupik) had more; and 16 had the same number of speakers in both years.

In some cases, differences between years may stem from changes made to ACS language coding in 2016, which increased the number of language categories and improved the precision of language reporting.

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