Census 2000: A Guide for the Perplexed
By James Crawford


A new release of Census data always seems to bring out the alarmists, zealots, xenophobes, and language restrictionists. When the 1990 Census reported a U.S. language-minority population of nearly 32 million, it set off predictions of demographic doom. Census 2000, which counted nearly 47 million Americans who speak a language other than English at home, is proving no different when it comes to media hysteria. 

For anyone who has been paying attention, however, there are no stunning revelations in the 2000 census data on language – only a continuation of trends that began in the previous decade: 

  • The number of U.S. residents who speak a language other than English at home (though not necessarily to the exclusion of English, as some media reports have assumed) increased by 47 percent during the 1990s. As shown in Chart I, the rate is up slightly from the 38 percent increase recorded in the 1980s.
  • The number of minority language speakers who also speak English "very well" increased at comparable rates: 44 percent in the 1990s, versus 39 percent in the 1980s. In other words, over the past 20 years, the population of fluent bilinguals has been increasing at about the same rate as the population that speaks languages other than English at home. 
  • The number who have some difficulty with English – that is, they reported speaking English “well,” “not well,” or “not at all” – increased by 53 percent, up from 37 percent in 1990. This trend illustrates a growing need for transitional services, especially to help recently arrived immigrants. But it hardly amounts to a “threat” to English, as some alarmists have claimed.
  • During the 1990s, speakers of home languages other than English grew at 6 times the rate of English-only speakers, just as it did during the 1980s.
  • As shown in Chart II, Spanish speakers for about 6 in 10 minority language speakers in 2000. Their numbers increased somewhat faster than the norm, up 62 percent over the decade of the 1990s, as compared with 56 percent during the 1980s.
  • Over the same period, fluent Spanish-English bilinguals grew at roughly the same rate as the Spanish-speaking population.
  • Expansion of the language-minority population continues to be closely correlated with immigration levels. The foreign-born population grew by 57 percent in the 1990s, up from 40 percent in the 1980s. 
  • Nearly 42 percent of the foreign-born population in 2000 had arrived in the United States during the past 10 years, down from 44 percent in 1990.
  • As shown in Chart III, school-age children who speak languages other than English at home increased by 55 percent over the decade. Those aged 5-17 reporting some "difficulty" with English increased by only 46 percent, while those who speak English "very well" increased by 60 percent. 
  • About 3.4 million persons of all ages reported speaking English "not at all" in 2000, representing about 1.3 percent of the U.S. population. But as shown in Chart IV, nearly 3 times as many Americans (proportionally speaking) were non-English speakers a century earlier, about 3.6 percent. The 1890 census figure no doubt would have been higher if census workers had used the same techniques for sampling language-minority groups used in 2000, or if they had counted Native Americans living on reservations.
  • The contrast was even greater for certain states that had sizable European immigrant populations in 1890, such as Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Louisiana, and New Hampshire.


Chart I
Language Spoken at Home and Self-Reported English-Speaking Ability, 
U.S. Residents, Age 5 and Older – 1980, 1990, and 2000
  1980 % 1990 % Change in 1980s 2000 % Change in 1990s
All speakers, age 5+ 210,247,455 100.0 230,445,777 100.0 +9.6% 262,375,152 100.0 +13.9%
English only  187,187,415 89.0 198,600,798 86.2 +6.1%  215,423,557 82.1 +8.5%
Language other than English 23,060,040 11.0 31,844,979 13.8 +38.1% 46,951,595 17.9 +47.4%
Speaks English very well 12,879,004 6.1 17,862,477 7.8 +38.7% 25,631,188 9.8 +43.5%
... well 5,957,544 2.8 7,310,301 3.2 +22.7% 10,333,556
 3.9
 +41.4%
... not well 3,005,503 1.4 4,826,958 2.1 +60.6% 7,620,719 2.9
 +57.9%
... not at all 1,217,989 0.6 1,845,243 0.8 +51.5% 3,366,132 1.3
 +82.4%
... with some "difficulty"* 10,181,036 4.8 13,982,502 6.1 +37.3% 21,320,407 8.1 +52.5%









Total U.S. population 226,545,805 100.0 248,709,873 100.0 +9.8% 281,421,906 100.0 +13.2%
   Foreign-born 14,079,906 6.2 19,767,316 7.9 +40.4% 31,107,889 11.1 +57.4%

*Includes all persons who report speaking English less than "very well," the threshold for full proficiency in English, as determined by the U.S. Department of Education.

Sources: 1980 Census of Population, vol. 1, chap. D, pt. 1 (PC80-1-D1-A); U.S. Census Bureau, "Language Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for United States, Regions, and States: 1990" (1990 CPH-L-133); 1990 Summary Tape File 3 (STF 3) - Sample data; Census 2000, Summary File 3, Table DP-2.


 

Chart II
Spanish Spoken at Home and Self-Reported English-Speaking Ability, 
U.S. Residents, Age 5 and Older – 1980, 1990, and 2000
  1980 % 1990 % Change in 1980s 2000 % Change in 1990s
Speakers of Spanish at home, aged 5+  11,116,194 100.0 17,339,172 100.0 +56.0%  28,101,052 100.0 +62.1%
          Speaks English very well 5,534,875 49.8 9,033,407 52.1 +63.2% 14,349,796 51.1 +58.9%
... with some "difficulty"* 5,581,319 50.2 8,305,765 47.9 +48.8%  13,751,256 48.9  +65.6%

*Includes all persons who report speaking English less than "very well," the threshold for full proficiency in English, as determined by the U.S. Department of Education.

Sources: 1980 Census of Population, vol. 1, chap. D, pt. 1 (PC80-1-D1-A); U.S. Census Bureau, "Language Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for United States, Regions, and States: 1990" (1990 CPH-L-133); Census 2000, Summary File 3, Table DP-2.


 

Chart III
Language Spoken at Home and Self-Reported English-Speaking Ability, 
U.S. Residents, Age 5-17  – 1980, 1990, and 2000
  1980 % 1990 % Change in
1980s		 2000 % Change in
1990s
All speakers,
age 5-17		 47,493,975 100.0 45,342,488 100.0 -4.5% 53,096,003 100.0 +17.1%
English only  42,925,646 90.4 39,019,514 86.1 -9.1% 43,316,237 81.6 +11.0%
Language other than English 4,568,329 9.6 6,322,934 13.9 +38.4% 9,779,766 18.4 +54.7%
Speaks English very  well NA    3,934,691 8.7   6,286,648 11.8 +59.8%
... well NA    1,480,680 3.3   2,171,142 4.1 +46.6%
... not well NA    761,778 1.7   1,090,925 2.1 +43.2%
... not at all NA    145,785 0.3   231,051 0.4 +58.5%
... with some "difficulty"* NA    2,388,243 5.3   3,493,118 6.6 +46.3%

*Includes all persons who report speaking English less than "very well," the threshold for full proficiency in English, as determined by the U.S. Department of Education.

Sources: 1980 Census of Population, vol. 1, chap. D, pt. 1 (PC80-1-D1-A); U.S. Census Bureau, "Language Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for United States, Regions, and States: 1990" (1990 CPH-L-133); Census 2000, Summary File 3, Table DP-2.  



Chart IV
 Percentage of
Non-English Speaking Persons,* 1890 and 2000
  1890
(%)		 2000
(%)		 Ratio
U.S. population   3.6
 1.3
 3: 1
   New Mexico
 65.1
 1.6
   41 : 1
   Arizona
 28.2
 2.3
 12 : 1
   North Dakota
 11.8
 0.05
 236 : 1
   Wisconsin 11.4 0.3 38 : 1
   Minnesota 10.3 0.4
 26 : 1
   South Dakota   8.8 0.03 293 : 1
   Louisiana   8.4 0.1 70 : 1
   California   8.3 3.6 2 : 1
   Nevada   8.0 1.7   5 : 1
   Texas   5.9 2.7   2 : 1
   New Hampshire   5.7 0.1 57 : 1
   Colorado   5.4 1.3   4 : 1
   Michigan   5.2 0.3 17 : 1
   Nebraska   4.9 0.6 8 : 1
   Illinois   4.7 1.3 4 : 1
   Rhode Island   4.7 1.0 5 : 1
   New York   4.6 1.8 3 : 1
   Oregon   4.5 0.9     5 : 1
   Pennsylvania   4.3 0.3   14 : 1
   Montana   3.7 0.02 159 : 1
Source: 1890 Census; 2000 Census
*Age 10 and older in 1890; age 5 and older in 2000.

 
CAVEATS

It is important to recognize the limitations of Census data on language. These numbers are based entirely on Americans' subjective assessments of their own language usage and proficiency – which are notoriously unreliable – in response to questions that are ambiguous and confusing. The best that can be said is that Census queries on language have remained consistent since 1980. It would be naive to place much confidence in these "self-reports," other than to plot trends from one decennial Census to another.

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