Languages spoken in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH

In October 2015, the U.S. Census Bureau released the "2009-2013 American Community Survey" which provides information on "languages spoken at home" and "ability to speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over" for the United States as a whole, states including Puerto Rico and Washington D.C., selected counties, and selected cities and urban areas. The following provides aggregated survey information on languages spoken in Boston-Cambridge-Newton [MA-NH]

Table showing languages spoken in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH

Population 5 years and over
Speak only English at home
Speak a language other than English at home
OTHER INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES

French (incl. Patois, Cajun)

French Creole

Italian

Portuguese (incl. Portuguese Creole)

German (incl. Luxembourgian)

Yiddish

Other West Germanic languages

Scandinavian languages

Greek

Russian

Polish

Serbo-Croatian languages

Other Slavic languages

Other Indic languages

Other Indo-European languages

ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLAND LANGUAGES

Chinese (incl. Cantonese, Mandarin, other Chinese languages)

Other Asian languages

Tagalog

Other Pacific Island languages

ALL OTHER LANGUAGES

Navajo

Other Native North American languages

Other and unspecified languages

BY STATE
BY COUNTY
BY CITY

Language	Number of speakers	Margin of Error	Speak English less than "Very Well"	Margin of Error
Abnaki	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
African	205	143	60	79
Afrikaans	305	131	(D)	(D)
Albanian	6,800	956	3,115	517
Algonquian	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
American Indian	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Amharic	4,610	761	1,835	434
Arawakian	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Assamese	80	75	(D)	(D)
Azerbaijani	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Balinese	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Bantu	3,440	757	610	239
Basque	45	53	45	53
Bengali	4,320	691	1,475	375
Berber	120	143	25	39
Bielorussian	100	111	(B)	-
Bihari	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Bisayan	170	133	50	67
Bulgarian	1,915	447	385	182
Burmese	710	317	595	306
Cajun	25	26	(B)	-
Cantonese	17,780	1,513	10,550	1,153
Catalonian	100	86	(D)	(D)
Caucasian	225	260	(D)	(D)
Chadic	95	83	(B)	-
Chamorro	50	44	30	33
Chasta Costa	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Chibchan	80	95	80	95
Chinese	62,975	2,413	33,845	1,867
Choctaw	65	99	(B)	-
Croatian	635	284	145	107
Cushite	2,520	686	1,165	393
Czech	780	302	70	47
Dakota	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Danish	655	198	(D)	(D)
Dutch	2,515	519	285	179
Efik	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Estonian	140	78	45	44
Finnish	535	177	45	40
Formosan	1,645	398	635	264
French	44,845	2,173	8,530	788
Fuchow	215	280	210	280
Fulani	385	240	150	103
German	14,090	1,001	1,455	255
Hakka	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Hawaiian	90	114	(B)	-
Icelandic	200	110	(D)	(D)
India nec3	1,210	449	505	304
Indonesian	1,740	479	765	294
Irish Gaelic	2,045	469	185	83
Jamaican Creole	505	223	95	78
Kannada	1,665	360	280	176
Kashmiri	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Kazakh	30	29	(D)	(D)
Keres	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Kiowa	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Krio	95	75	30	24
Kru, Ibo, Yoruba	5,745	828	1,220	314
Kuchin	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Kurdish	75	79	30	41
Latvian	445	157	80	49
Lithuanian	1,455	329	325	133
Macedonian	160	131	(D)	(D)
Malay	310	119	90	75
Malayalam	2,140	547	470	251
Mandarin	13,660	1,262	6,090	867
Mande	310	146	75	61
Marathi	2,740	574	625	341
Marshallese	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Micmac	20	20	(B)	-
Minangkabau	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Mongolian	205	221	(D)	(D)
Nauruan	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Nepali	3,420	779	1,000	358
Nilo-Hamitic	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Nilotic	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Norwegian	705	206	50	31
Ojibwa	125	159	(D)	(D)
Oriya	90	77	(D)	(D)
Other Uralic languages	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Pachuco	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Pakistan nec3	150	159	(D)	(D)
Pampangan	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Panjabi	2,545	603	1,185	491
Papia Mentae	40	37	(B)	-
Pashto	110	112	50	57
Patois	1,575	507	260	120
Pidgin	40	64	(D)	(D)
Portuguese	97,930	3,612	48,620	2,391
Romanian	1,800	433	495	222
Romany	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Scottic Gaelic	105	104	(B)	-
Sebuano	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Serbian	820	219	120	89
Serbocroatian	2,760	814	970	334
Sindhi	80	56	(D)	(D)
Sinhalese	405	189	45	40
Slovak	180	86	(D)	(D)
Slovene	30	27	(B)	-
Spanish	343,600	2,867	151,170	2,710
Sudanic	190	193	100	90
Swahili	4,470	751	915	272
Swedish	1,500	326	35	25
Syriac	60	72	15	34
Tamil	5,915	900	850	290
Telugu	5,415	871	1,310	452
Tibetan	695	268	185	126
Tiwa	30	38	(D)	(D)
Tongan	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Turkish	3,630	602	760	268
Ukrainian	1,280	322	390	196
Uncodable	215	81	(B)	-
Welsh	90	63	15	19
Wu	60	45	(B)	-
Yapese	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
African languages	22,184	1,813	6,192	815
Arabic	24,461	1,913	9,967	1,088
Armenian	7,503	1,131	1,841	443
Chinese (incl Cantonese, Mandarin, other Chinese languages4)	96,362	2,820	51,325	1,940
French (incl Patois, Cajun)	46,443	2,155	8,788	795
French Creole	58,403	2,961	26,271	1,873
German (incl Luxembourgian)	14,089	1,001	1,453	255
Greek	19,682	1,419	5,302	659
Gujarati	7,398	914	2,642	531
Hebrew	6,538	798	730	197
Hindi	15,584	1,455	2,597	519
Hmong	265	192	96	107
Hungarian	1,190	348	258	120
Italian	32,484	1,614	8,613	697
Japanese	7,821	844	3,008	486
Korean	14,384	1,238	6,350	719
Laotian	2,511	703	1,098	294
Mon-Khmer, Cambodian	18,384	1,500	9,558	880
Navajo	8	14	(B)	-
Other and unspecified languages	1,319	366	361	212
Other Asian languages	20,420	1,541	4,558	829
Other Indic languages	15,101	1,481	4,924	874
Other Indo-European languages	13,660	1,148	4,442	562
Other Native North American languages	363	189	53	42
Other Pacific Island languages	2,475	534	996	307
Other Slavic languages	4,447	683	903	277
Other West Germanic languages	2,818	518	317	184
Persian	4,723	853	1,234	281
Polish	8,369	758	2,484	422
Population 5 years and over	4,346,557	202	402,767	4,586
Portuguese (incl Portuguese Creole)	97,969	3,613	48,622	2,391
Russian	28,539	1,507	12,695	949
Scandinavian languages	3,060	490	150	59
Serbo-Croatian languages	4,215	916	1,235	352
Tagalog	6,787	887	1,827	445
Thai	2,258	483	1,088	315
Urdu	4,184	746	853	277
Vietnamese	30,946	2,097	18,720	1,384
Yiddish	693	159	40	38
ALL OTHER LANGUAGES	56,063	3,110	17,561	1,459
ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLAND LANGUAGES	202,613	2,813	98,624	1,988
OTHER INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES	389,364	5,963	135,406	3,479
SPANISH AND SPANISH CREOLE	343,608	2,869	151,176	2,713
Speak a language other than English at home	991,648	6,859	402,767	4,586
Speak only English at home	3,354,909	6,896	(X)	(X)

Notes

Number of speakers and Speak English less than "Very Well": Detailed-language estimates are rounded to the nearest multiple of five. Aggregate estimates ("language category" and "language sub-category" entries) are unrounded and appear in table B16001. Detailed-language estimates may not sum to aggregate estimates because of rounding.
Margin of Error and Margin of Error: Data are based on a sample and are subject to sampling variability. The degree of uncertainty for an estimate arising from sampling variability is represented through the use of a margin of error. The value shown here is the 90 percent margin of error. The margin of error can be interpreted roughly as providing a 90 percent probability that the interval defined by the estimate minus the margin of error and the estimate plus the margin of error (the lower and upper confidence bounds) contains the true value. In addition to sampling variability, the ACS estimates are subject to nonsampling error (for a discussion of nonsampling variability, see Accuracy of the Data. The effect of nonsampling error is not represented in these tables.
(D): Data withheld to avoid disclosure.
(B): Either no sample observations or too few sample observations were available to compute an estimate.
(X): Question does not apply.
-: Either no sample observations or too few sample observations were available to compute a standard error and thus the margin of error. A statistical test is not appropriate.
3 N.E.C. stands for not elsewhere classified. These are languages where respondents indicated they spoke either Indian or Pakistan. For Indian, it cannot be determined if the respondent spoke a native American language or spoke a language from India. For Pakistan, respondents wrote in Pakistan but it cannot be determined which one of the languages spoken in Pakistan is actually being spoken. To distinguish these languages, n.e.c. is used to indicated they are not classified in any other language code.
This category includes literal write-ins of Chinese as well as Hakka, Kan, Hsiang, Cantonese, Mandarin, Fuchow, Formosan, and Wu.