Author: Michael Cline, North Carolina State Demographer
In my previous piece, “The foreign-born population in North Carolina has increased eightfold since 1990” I looked at many of the characteristics of this foreign-born population, including the ability to speak English. In this post we focus solely on languages spoken in North Carolina by all North Carolinians – those born in the United States or abroad.
English Proficiency
Of the entire population 5 years and older in North Carolina (native- and foreign-born), 88% speak English at home. This 2018-2022 period estimate is a statistically significant decrease from the 89% of the population who spoke English at home during the previous 5-year period (2013-2017) but well above the 78% of the population for the nation.
There were 28 counties that experienced statistically significant declines in the percentage of the population 5 years and older who spoke English at home, with the largest percentage point declines in Graham (-4%), Swain (-3%), Duplin (-3%), and Sampson (-3%) Counties.
In 71 counties, over 90 percent of the population 5 years and older spoke English at home. The lowest percentages of the population who spoke English at home were in Duplin (77%), Mecklenburg (80%), Sampson (80%), Durham (81%), and Lee (81%) Counties.
Spanish Speakers
Spanish is the second most spoken language in North Carolina. During the 2018-2022 period, 8% of the population 5 years and older (775,000 people) spoke Spanish at home. This compares to 13% for the nation.
In most North Carolina counties (53), more than 5% of the population 5 years and older spoke Spanish at home, with the largest percentage of Spanish speakers located in Duplin (21%), Sampson (18%), Lee (17%), Greene (16%), and Montgomery (15%) Counties.
Other Languages Spoken
Other languages can be heard in North Carolina, as well, owing to the many different immigrant groups who have come to North Carolina. Besides English and Spanish, there are an estimated 10,000 or more speakers of 13 different languages - including more than 30,000 Chinese, French, and Arabic speakers.
Languages Spoken at Home- Next 13 Languages by Number of Speakers
| Language | Speakers |
|---|---|
| Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin) | 38,296 |
| French | 32,019 |
| Arabic | 30,931 |
| Vietnamese | 24,822 |
| German | 21,901 |
| Hindi | 21,244 |
| Telugu | 19,921 |
| Korean | 16,130 |
| Tagalog (incl. Filipino) | 15,442 |
| Russian | 14,390 |
| Portuguese | 10,498 |
| Tamil | 10,390 |
| Hmong | 9,508 |
| Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2018-2022 | |
About the estimates
Unless otherwise noted, the estimates included in this summary are derived from the US Census Bureau’s 2018-2022 American Community Survey (ACS) estimates. The ACS covers 40+ topics used for planning and analyses for local areas. Topics include, among other things: age, children, veterans, commuting, education, income, and employment. The Census Bureau publishes annual ACS estimates for geographic areas with populations of 65,000 or more and 5-year estimates for all geographic areas down to sub-county census block groups.
In order to compare state and county estimates, this summary includes estimates obtained from the 5-year ACS estimates rather than the 1-year ACS estimates. Because these are sample based estimates, margins of error are published with the data to enable comparisons to previous estimates and estimates for other geographic areas. More information and guidance on the ACS can be found at: ACS Information Guide.