The following eye-opening data comes from the Washington Examiner, citing a just-released analysis of Census data by the Center for Immigration Studies.
- In 2017, a record 66.6 million U.S. residents (native-born, legal immigrants, and illegal immigrants) ages five and older spoke a language other than English at home. The number has more than doubled since 1990, and almost tripled since 1980.
- As a share of the population, 21.8 percent of U.S. residents speak a foreign language at home — roughly double the 11 percent in 1980.
- In America’s five largest cities, 48 percent of residents now speak a language other than English at home. In New York City and Houston it is 49 percent; in Los Angeles it is 59 percent; in Chicago it is 36 percent; and in Phoenix it is 38 percent.
- In 2017, there were 85 cities and Census Designated Places (CDP) in which a majority of residents spoke a foreign language at home. These include Hialeah, Fla. (95 percent); Laredo, Texas (92 percent); and East Los Angeles, Calif. (90 percent). Perhaps more surprisingly, it also includes places like Elizabeth, N.J. (76 percent); Skokie, Ill. (56 percent); and Germantown, Md., and Bridgeport, Conn. (each 51 percent).
- In contrast to many of the nation’s cities, in rural areas outside of metropolitan areas just 8 percent speak a language other than English at home.
READ MORE: WASHINGTON EXAMINER
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2 Responses
So what. How many Chassidim speak Yiddish at home? How about people who speak Hebrew?
The grandparents and great-grandparents of many of the readers here came as immigrants and never learned English well, and some never learned it at all. That didn’t keep them from being good Americans and raising their children to be both good Americans and good Jews.
Before we get too agitated about immigrants – look in the mirror, or in your grandparents’ photo albums. Or walk down 13th Avenue in BP, or stroll around KJ.
A real problem. As one congressman said a hundred years ago, if we don’t put a stop to immigration in another generation, Yiddish and Italian will replace English.
Note that statistics from a conservative think tank showed that most third generation Hispanics are monolingual in English – just like other Americans.