Languages spoken in San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA

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 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara [CA]

Table showing languages spoken in San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA

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
African	75	69	(B)	-
Afrikaans	85	57	(B)	-
Albanian	155	107	55	58
American Indian	50	62	(B)	-
Amharic	3,770	832	1,640	434
Assamese	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Azerbaijani	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Bantu	35	40	(D)	(D)
Basque	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Bengali	3,740	695	505	172
Berber	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Bielorussian	85	97	60	68
Bihari	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Bikol	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Bisayan	810	281	330	153
Bulgarian	865	292	185	104
Burmese	600	225	395	194
Burushaski	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Cantonese	15,265	1,440	7,090	883
Catalonian	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Caucasian	105	128	70	82
Chamorro	345	150	115	67
Cherokee	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Cheyenne	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Chinese	72,580	2,541	35,895	1,510
Comanche	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Croatian	835	297	300	125
Cushite	585	413	105	134
Czech	510	195	70	68
Danish	555	220	(D)	(D)
Dravidian	90	70	(B)	-
Dutch	1,525	289	115	77
Efik	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Estonian	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Fijian	160	118	25	25
Finnish	370	217	100	89
Formosan	4,035	649	2,500	426
French	9,105	972	1,490	254
Frisian	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Fuchow	90	107	65	75
Fulani	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
German	6,620	648	940	229
Gilbertese	70	70	(D)	(D)
Gondi	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Gur	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Hakka	35	51	35	51
Hawaiian	110	98	(D)	(D)
Hidatsa	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Icelandic	110	92	(D)	(D)
Ilocano	2,660	509	1,455	372
India nec3	985	407	170	137
Indonesian	1,720	375	560	188
Irish Gaelic	155	100	80	94
Iroquois	75	123	65	101
Kannada	4,730	672	785	217
Karakalpak	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Karen	210	254	210	254
Kashmiri	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Krio	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Kru, Ibo, Yoruba	490	216	115	101
Kurdish	70	83	30	53
Latvian	65	47	(D)	(D)
Lithuanian	100	106	(D)	(D)
Macedonian	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Malay	145	100	(D)	(D)
Malayalam	2,970	537	515	165
Mandarin	35,160	1,788	16,035	1,085
Mande	45	54	(D)	(D)
Marathi	5,665	846	545	176
Melanesian	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Mien	115	84	65	45
Mongolian	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Muskogee	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Nepali	640	254	280	190
Norwegian	415	167	45	51
Ojibwa	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Oriya	265	143	40	44
Oto - Manguen	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Pakistan nec3	20	26	(B)	-
Palau	70	63	(D)	(D)
Pampangan	100	67	65	55
Pangasinan	160	122	145	114
Panjabi	12,260	1,229	5,525	675
Pashto	330	267	165	131
Ponapean	65	101	65	101
Portuguese	8,175	1,046	3,105	583
Romanian	1,415	395	295	104
Samoan	870	439	235	156
San Carlos	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Sebuano	435	212	60	55
Serbian	1,050	476	185	140
Serbocroatian	1,425	463	510	199
Shoshoni	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Sindhi	175	105	(D)	(D)
Sinhalese	165	101	(B)	-
Slovak	215	180	50	83
Slovene	80	87	(D)	(D)
Spanish	339,165	3,846	147,705	2,855
Swahili	190	124	55	88
Swedish	720	235	105	83
Syriac	3,535	821	1,195	396
Tamil	15,550	1,178	1,885	345
Telugu	14,015	1,336	2,520	474
Tibetan	35	49	(D)	(D)
Tongan	585	337	125	96
Turkish	1,495	400	340	148
Uighur	95	102	50	57
Ukrainian	525	172	170	87
Wu	85	76	65	69
African languages	5,240	976	1,974	472
Arabic	5,336	807	1,442	332
Armenian	1,307	347	488	202
Chinese (incl Cantonese, Mandarin, other Chinese languages4)	127,247	3,753	61,687	2,160
French (incl Patois, Cajun)	9,104	972	1,491	254
French Creole	281	237	11	14
German (incl Luxembourgian)	6,619	648	940	229
Greek	1,781	465	497	179
Gujarati	6,260	931	1,347	316
Hebrew	3,798	744	646	253
Hindi	31,025	2,100	3,750	590
Hmong	277	144	99	79
Hungarian	607	175	145	87
Italian	4,091	469	1,141	254
Japanese	13,810	1,093	6,069	685
Korean	24,082	1,563	12,494	1,010
Laotian	1,014	322	582	196
Mon-Khmer, Cambodian	4,166	820	2,585	533
Navajo	28	26	11	16
Other and unspecified languages	4,068	868	1,405	419
Other Asian languages	40,076	2,096	6,838	710
Other Indic languages	23,974	1,579	7,078	779
Other Indo-European languages	2,394	552	789	271
Other Native North American languages	294	193	70	102
Other Pacific Island languages	8,334	870	3,231	490
Other Slavic languages	2,288	469	543	191
Other West Germanic languages	1,622	310	116	77
Persian	14,462	1,174	5,253	597
Polish	1,797	438	442	151
Population 5 years and over	1,740,817	104	370,323	3,992
Portuguese (incl Portuguese Creole)	8,177	1,046	3,105	583
Russian	11,580	981	4,197	492
Scandinavian languages	1,802	435	194	116
Serbo-Croatian languages	3,309	741	994	284
Tagalog	55,844	2,650	19,949	1,330
Thai	1,587	372	710	189
Urdu	5,687	935	1,034	394
Vietnamese	112,331	3,678	69,212	2,513
Yiddish	93	93	59	85
ALL OTHER LANGUAGES	19,371	1,749	5,693	729
ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLAND LANGUAGES	388,768	4,319	183,456	2,826
OTHER INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES	137,653	3,706	33,469	1,512
SPANISH AND SPANISH CREOLE	339,167	3,846	147,705	2,855
Speak a language other than English at home	884,959	5,325	370,323	3,992
Speak only English at home	855,858	5,324	(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.