Languages spoken in Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA

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 Des Moines-West Des Moines [IA]

Table showing languages spoken in Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA

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
Albanian	230	237	170	230
Aleut	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Amharic	190	113	90	82
Bantu	660	366	365	237
Bengali	60	71	(D)	(D)
Berber	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Bulgarian	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Burmese	220	140	195	141
Cantonese	110	129	(D)	(D)
Caucasian	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Chadic	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Chamorro	155	229	(D)	(D)
Chinese	1,745	485	760	285
Chiwere	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Croatian	115	104	90	111
Crow	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Cushite	260	201	175	122
Czech	10	12	(B)	-
Dakota	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Danish	110	70	(D)	(D)
Dutch	85	50	30	22
Efik	95	151	(B)	-
Estonian	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
French	1,135	284	200	101
Fulani	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
German	1,395	375	325	147
Hakka	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Ilocano	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
India nec3	210	193	(B)	-
Indonesian	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Jamaican Creole	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Karen	555	324	470	295
Kru, Ibo, Yoruba	235	161	45	62
Latvian	35	31	(D)	(D)
Lithuanian	130	200	(B)	-
Malay	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Malayalam	125	86	30	47
Mandarin	100	76	80	71
Mande	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Marathi	230	207	40	32
Mbum (and related)	110	160	(D)	(D)
Mono	35	68	(D)	(D)
Nepali	495	327	350	216
Nilo-Hamitic	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Nilotic	130	107	(D)	(D)
Norwegian	20	22	(D)	(D)
Pakistan nec3	50	88	40	70
Palau	50	73	(B)	-
Panjabi	150	139	(D)	(D)
Portuguese	60	36	25	30
Romanian	55	61	(B)	-
Serbian	165	121	55	51
Serbocroatian	4,520	900	2,025	472
Sinhalese	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Slovak	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Spanish	28,450	1,126	13,980	827
Sudanic	575	317	250	138
Swahili	660	259	275	182
Swedish	40	39	(D)	(D)
Syriac	25	45	(D)	(D)
Tamil	220	173	60	67
Telugu	740	282	200	121
Tibetan	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Turkish	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Ukrainian	60	69	40	59
Uncodable	55	58	(B)	-
African languages	3,069	615	1,346	399
Arabic	1,484	433	759	301
Armenian	19	32	19	32
Chinese (incl Cantonese, Mandarin, other Chinese languages4)	1,965	515	867	303
French (incl Patois, Cajun)	1,133	284	201	101
German (incl Luxembourgian)	1,397	375	327	147
Greek	87	58	14	21
Gujarati	85	95	4	7
Hebrew	91	107	(B)	-
Hindi	738	279	193	113
Hmong	169	153	46	55
Hungarian	3	5	(B)	-
Italian	380	150	87	55
Japanese	200	100	62	56
Korean	721	394	353	290
Laotian	2,050	519	724	201
Mon-Khmer, Cambodian	258	109	151	84
Other and unspecified languages	109	80	9	15
Other Asian languages	1,886	459	954	341
Other Indic languages	1,209	539	493	221
Other Indo-European languages	465	320	176	231
Other Native North American languages	98	79	14	26
Other Pacific Island languages	243	241	62	53
Other Slavic languages	113	79	65	68
Other West Germanic languages	85	50	29	22
Persian	76	58	28	47
Polish	210	103	93	63
Population 5 years and over	537,753	181	26,110	1,214
Portuguese (incl Portuguese Creole)	58	36	23	30
Russian	568	205	282	117
Scandinavian languages	171	80	37	37
Serbo-Croatian languages	4,802	921	2,169	484
Tagalog	523	173	231	131
Thai	1,076	533	404	205
Urdu	364	226	106	90
Vietnamese	3,070	538	1,800	346
Yiddish	59	63	4	6
ALL OTHER LANGUAGES	4,854	837	2,128	528
ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLAND LANGUAGES	12,161	790	5,654	560
OTHER INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES	12,019	1,224	4,350	666
SPANISH AND SPANISH CREOLE	28,448	1,126	13,978	827
Speak a language other than English at home	57,482	1,956	26,110	1,214
Speak only English at home	480,271	1,956	(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.