Languages spoken in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

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 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria [DC-VA-MD-WV]

Table showing languages spoken in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

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	195	105	40	33
Afrikaans	505	188	20	26
Albanian	1,370	373	315	123
American Indian	135	91	(B)	-
Amharic	43,125	2,393	16,215	1,398
Apache	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Arawakian	40	80	(D)	(D)
Assamese	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Azerbaijani	205	104	95	74
Balinese	295	336	(B)	-
Bantu	4,240	677	875	295
Bengali	16,160	1,906	5,470	856
Berber	390	341	210	191
Bielorussian	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Bisayan	465	168	110	68
Bulgarian	2,690	640	630	303
Burmese	2,090	570	925	346
Cajun	20	20	(D)	(D)
Cantonese	5,995	936	2,655	583
Catalonian	340	173	(D)	(D)
Caucasian	355	232	115	104
Chadic	395	213	125	132
Chamorro	115	60	(B)	-
Cherokee	40	45	(B)	-
Cheyenne	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Chinese	58,445	2,411	26,915	1,527
Choctaw	485	428	(D)	(D)
Croatian	550	221	140	82
Cushite	4,335	916	1,585	398
Czech	1,030	251	140	77
Dakota	130	105	(D)	(D)
Danish	1,115	322	100	116
Delta River Yuman	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Dravidian	35	36	(D)	(D)
Dutch	2,700	430	205	104
Efik	420	211	40	36
Estonian	340	123	(B)	-
Finnish	660	218	55	46
Formosan	2,475	556	1,160	283
Fox	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
French	58,045	2,336	13,910	1,055
Frisian	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Fuchow	65	101	65	101
Fulani	3,230	602	925	263
German	23,960	1,388	3,210	380
Gondi	70	64	(D)	(D)
Gullah	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Gur	110	100	(B)	-
Hakka	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Hawaiian	125	79	(D)	(D)
Icelandic	80	53	25	29
Ilocano	655	296	265	160
India nec3	1,220	440	295	191
Indonesian	2,820	547	1,030	312
Irish Gaelic	205	72	25	25
Jamaican Creole	615	239	100	105
Javanese	90	109	(D)	(D)
Kachin	170	202	150	176
Kannada	2,175	435	395	153
Karen	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Karok	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Kashmiri	225	143	35	33
Kazakh	100	69	60	44
Keres	90	111	(B)	-
Khoisan	55	89	20	32
Kiowa	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Kirghiz	55	54	30	34
Krio	3,040	736	1,010	456
Kru, Ibo, Yoruba	38,590	2,228	6,705	936
Kuchin	35	41	(D)	(D)
Kurdish	1,360	508	625	269
Latvian	790	261	195	157
Lithuanian	755	272	185	170
Macedonian	285	244	130	140
Malagasy	100	98	(D)	(D)
Malay	900	332	305	166
Malayalam	4,530	754	900	253
Mandarin	12,630	1,143	5,155	775
Mande	1,575	412	515	225
Marathi	3,035	615	270	123
Marshallese	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Mayan languages	35	28	25	28
Mbum (and related)	75	95	45	55
Melanesian	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Mohawk	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Mongolian	1,215	442	615	303
Munda	20	22	(B)	-
Muskogee	160	169	160	169
Nepali	7,155	1,254	3,265	724
Nilo-Hamitic	40	51	(B)	-
Nilotic	65	65	(D)	(D)
Norwegian	680	192	55	34
Ojibwa	70	65	(D)	(D)
Oriya	300	167	50	45
Oto - Manguen	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Pakistan nec3	715	474	110	124
Palau	195	165	4	26
Pampangan	390	253	170	161
Panjabi	8,955	1,364	3,300	638
Papia Mentae	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Pashto	1,985	607	660	242
Patois	1,755	389	105	65
Pennsylvania Dutch	30	28	(D)	(D)
Pidgin	570	279	170	112
Ponapean	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Ponca	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Portuguese	13,985	1,283	4,325	567
Potawatomi	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Quechua	110	126	75	79
Rajasthani	45	56	(D)	(D)
Romanian	3,755	731	950	256
Romany	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Samoan	90	50	(B)	-
Santiam	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Scottic Gaelic	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Sebuano	600	316	135	113
Seneca	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Serbian	1,390	471	295	165
Serbocroatian	1,035	309	260	135
Sindhi	185	106	(D)	(D)
Sinhalese	2,370	551	700	236
Slovak	720	224	130	104
Slovene	340	146	60	55
Spanish	633,140	3,958	285,375	4,009
Sudanic	280	239	140	110
Swahili	4,520	730	895	255
Swedish	1,880	402	120	79
Syriac	175	129	(D)	(D)
Tamil	9,520	1,110	1,130	269
Telugu	14,605	1,414	2,150	442
Tibetan	365	184	155	101
Tokelauan	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Tongan	80	100	(B)	-
Towa	30	41	(B)	-
Trukese	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Tupi-Guarani	40	41	40	41
Turkish	5,830	840	1,800	425
Uighur	415	254	170	109
Ukrainian	1,825	385	470	175
Uncodable	425	166	95	76
Walapai	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Welsh	75	55	(D)	(D)
Winnebago	30	41	(B)	-
Wu	20	26	(D)	(D)
Zuni	35	45	(D)	(D)
African languages	101,636	3,560	28,359	1,561
Arabic	38,910	2,440	10,013	963
Armenian	2,614	513	724	183
Chinese (incl Cantonese, Mandarin, other Chinese languages4)	79,660	2,419	35,954	1,658
French (incl Patois, Cajun)	59,814	2,432	14,027	1,057
French Creole	11,445	1,260	2,833	510
German (incl Luxembourgian)	23,960	1,388	3,212	380
Greek	8,557	1,014	2,219	552
Gujarati	8,589	1,047	2,202	491
Hebrew	4,168	610	480	153
Hindi	31,718	1,820	4,775	712
Hmong	281	225	93	105
Hungarian	2,281	421	406	158
Italian	10,628	1,126	2,138	418
Japanese	9,692	806	3,952	481
Korean	62,671	2,697	33,611	1,972
Laotian	2,944	551	1,411	332
Mon-Khmer, Cambodian	4,701	936	2,236	410
Navajo	166	102	(B)	-
Other and unspecified languages	2,196	487	450	167
Other Asian languages	41,457	2,300	8,638	859
Other Indic languages	40,397	2,774	13,539	1,236
Other Indo-European languages	14,896	1,564	4,263	750
Other Native North American languages	1,478	513	310	194
Other Pacific Island languages	7,033	962	2,095	495
Other Slavic languages	6,892	813	1,559	412
Other West Germanic languages	3,265	435	243	119
Persian	32,302	2,317	10,874	875
Polish	3,968	545	580	169
Population 5 years and over	5,371,689	279	541,111	5,114
Portuguese (incl Portuguese Creole)	14,014	1,286	4,324	567
Russian	19,718	1,442	6,097	703
Scandinavian languages	3,755	536	301	151
Serbo-Croatian languages	2,974	623	695	261
Tagalog	41,341	2,310	11,638	1,013
Thai	8,060	917	4,205	604
Urdu	28,511	2,231	8,061	1,015
Vietnamese	52,696	2,644	29,164	1,796
Yiddish	742	304	55	57
ALL OTHER LANGUAGES	150,835	4,411	40,018	1,738
ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLAND LANGUAGES	310,536	3,683	132,997	2,319
OTHER INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES	328,759	5,871	82,721	2,864
SPANISH AND SPANISH CREOLE	633,140	3,958	285,375	4,009
Speak a language other than English at home	1,423,270	8,363	541,111	5,114
Speak only English at home	3,948,419	8,333	(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.