The Census asks questions about language use at home to locate groups of people who speak a language other than English. Their isolation or integration into a primarily English speaking community can be determined by their ability to speak English proficiently.
| Language Spoken at Home, 1990-2000 | ||||
| 1990 | 2000 | |||
| Number | Percent | Number | Percent | |
| Only English | 969,120 | 82.33% | 1,083,041 | 71.21% |
| Spanish | 94,446 | 8.02% | 248,207 | 16.32% |
| Other Indo-European* | 96,667 | 8.21% | 157,417 | 10.35% |
| Asian Language** | 8,335 | 0.71% | 18,530 | 1.22% |
| Other | 8,480 | 0.72% | 13,647 | 0.90% |
| Total Population Age 5+ | 1,177,048 | 100.00% | 1,520,842 | 100.00% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 99,358 | 40.03% |
| Other Indo-European* | 61,592 | 39.13% |
| Asian Language** | 8,632 | 46.58% |
| Other Language | 3,743 | 27.43% |
| Total | 173,325 | 11.40% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 37,810 | 40.03% |
| Other Indo-European* | 35,860 | 37.10% |
| Asian Language** | 4,456 | 53.46% |
| Other Language | 2,568 | 30.28% |
| Total | 80,694 | 6.86% |
* "Other Indo-European" excludes English and Spanish. "Indo-European" is not synonymous with "European." French, German, Hindi, and Persian are all classified as Indo-European. Hungarian, on the other hand, is lumped into "Other Language."
** "Asian Language" includes languages indigenous to Asia and Pacific islands areas that are not also Indo-European languages. Chinese, Japanese, Telugu, and Hawaiian are all classified here.
Also note that ability to speak English "very well" is based on the self-assessment of those responding to Census questions, not on a test of language ability.
Source: Census 2000 analyzed by the Social Science Data Analysis Network (SSDAN).
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