Languages spoken in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI

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 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin [IL-IN]

Table showing languages spoken in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI

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
Achinese	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
African	470	410	360	407
Afrikaans	550	257	35	46
Albanian	8,330	1,263	3,670	757
American Indian	50	44	(D)	(D)
Amharic	3,795	737	1,455	468
Apache	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Arawakian	175	184	(B)	-
Assamese	110	112	30	36
Azerbaijani	55	118	25	55
Balochi	30	59	(B)	-
Bantu	1,280	403	185	83
Bengali	5,200	999	1,900	660
Berber	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Bielorussian	75	46	55	40
Bihari	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Bisayan	1,095	352	280	167
Bulgarian	10,565	1,298	4,880	766
Burmese	1,700	526	1,295	424
Caddo	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Cajun	65	67	(B)	-
Cantonese	13,265	1,227	7,400	768
Catalonian	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Caucasian	245	141	125	79
Chadic	395	214	(D)	(D)
Chamorro	265	173	(B)	-
Cherokee	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Chinese	58,865	2,406	32,030	1,716
Choctaw	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Cree	35	57	(D)	(D)
Croatian	4,710	640	1,440	294
Cushite	1,065	473	705	417
Czech	4,015	830	1,710	576
Dakota	75	59	(B)	-
Danish	670	143	(D)	(D)
Delaware	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Dravidian	60	61	(B)	-
Dutch	2,775	401	475	178
Efik	190	131	(D)	(D)
Estonian	280	130	55	50
Finnish	445	182	65	62
Formosan	2,125	425	1,065	250
French	28,590	1,679	5,965	773
French Cree	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Fuchow	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Fulani	445	194	155	89
German	33,075	1,548	5,640	516
Gondi	80	72	(D)	(D)
Hakka	40	44	(D)	(D)
Hawaiian	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Icelandic	25	26	(B)	-
Ilocano	435	226	220	116
India nec3	2,330	612	715	267
Indonesian	950	203	275	97
Inupik	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Irish Gaelic	1,415	419	135	73
Jamaican Creole	625	311	70	67
Kachin	40	57	40	57
Kannada	2,295	569	615	415
Kansa	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Karachay	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Karen	675	295	455	226
Kashmiri	65	63	(B)	-
Kirghiz	125	161	110	155
Krio	50	48	(B)	-
Kru, Ibo, Yoruba	16,110	1,557	3,210	733
Kuchin	55	47	(D)	(D)
Kurdish	160	118	105	101
Latvian	1,380	297	170	117
Lithuanian	14,350	1,473	5,625	735
Macedonian	4,090	877	1,805	470
Malay	1,000	355	280	153
Malayalam	13,160	1,322	4,495	751
Mandarin	10,295	749	4,075	469
Mande	490	332	85	103
Marathi	3,925	619	450	180
Marquesan	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Marshallese	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Mayan languages	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Melanesian	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Menomini	30	30	(D)	(D)
Mongolian	2,150	590	1,400	472
Munda	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
Nepali	2,625	805	1,565	472
Nilotic	70	53	25	30
Norwegian	735	270	110	65
Ojibwa	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Oneida	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Oriya	200	134	(D)	(D)
Pakistan nec3	290	182	60	68
Pampangan	115	69	40	32
Pangasinan	40	61	(D)	(D)
Panjabi	6,410	872	2,235	499
Pashto	635	436	385	331
Patois	480	147	40	29
Pennsylvania Dutch	620	237	65	43
Pidgin	75	66	(B)	-
Polynesian	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Portuguese	5,375	779	1,135	236
Rajasthani	35	45	(B)	-
Romanian	15,945	1,182	6,915	716
Romany	90	109	20	27
Samoan	160	83	(D)	(D)
Scottic Gaelic	110	77	(B)	-
Sebuano	855	315	195	89
Serbian	17,490	1,556	7,130	859
Serbocroatian	11,295	1,340	4,830	753
Sindhi	415	218	60	53
Sinhalese	295	237	70	74
Slovak	2,440	443	785	237
Slovene	570	193	185	95
Spanish	1,507,700	7,442	679,025	5,839
Sudanic	405	303	95	80
Swahili	1,775	634	295	231
Swedish	1,565	292	210	111
Syriac	14,120	1,933	6,045	1,024
Tamil	8,735	1,057	1,425	330
Telugu	11,235	1,285	2,230	448
Tibetan	240	168	125	125
Tiwa	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Tungus	105	121	75	88
Tupi-Guarani	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Turkish	3,510	636	1,280	271
Turkmen	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Uighur	260	199	155	139
Ukrainian	12,935	1,246	6,380	829
Uncodable	105	62	(D)	(D)
Welsh	50	52	(D)	(D)
Winnebago	(D)	(D)	(B)	-
Yuma	(D)	(D)	(D)	(D)
African languages	26,530	1,953	6,645	1,098
Arabic	53,715	3,387	17,947	1,725
Armenian	2,782	627	1,031	384
Chinese (incl Cantonese, Mandarin, other Chinese languages4)	84,605	2,840	44,600	1,957
French (incl Patois, Cajun)	29,137	1,648	6,007	773
French Creole	4,559	806	1,239	317
German (incl Luxembourgian)	33,074	1,548	5,640	516
Greek	34,195	2,011	8,855	725
Gujarati	39,590	2,478	16,803	1,450
Hebrew	6,310	823	901	284
Hindi	33,820	1,833	8,885	925
Hmong	495	268	124	100
Hungarian	2,860	409	1,077	281
Italian	37,959	1,852	11,036	773
Japanese	10,955	974	5,392	714
Korean	43,894	1,953	23,998	1,419
Laotian	2,409	592	1,458	379
Mon-Khmer, Cambodian	3,483	814	1,837	534
Navajo	46	59	12	18
Other and unspecified languages	15,444	1,944	6,322	1,032
Other Asian languages	44,489	2,382	13,761	1,189
Other Indic languages	22,015	1,633	7,114	878
Other Indo-European languages	43,177	2,728	17,092	1,383
Other Native North American languages	560	174	146	109
Other Pacific Island languages	4,964	709	1,314	289
Other Slavic languages	34,689	2,253	15,803	1,257
Other West Germanic languages	3,943	565	577	179
Persian	5,760	874	1,753	380
Polish	182,859	4,608	90,506	2,812
Population 5 years and over	8,866,492	244	1,077,695	8,768
Portuguese (incl Portuguese Creole)	5,373	779	1,133	236
Russian	39,551	1,860	18,620	1,138
Scandinavian languages	2,998	452	334	135
Serbo-Croatian languages	33,495	2,276	13,401	1,297
Tagalog	76,309	2,890	21,731	1,475
Thai	6,448	814	3,425	532
Urdu	41,234	2,645	11,556	1,081
Vietnamese	17,655	1,430	10,357	1,024
Yiddish	1,382	366	240	142
ALL OTHER LANGUAGES	105,465	4,357	33,050	2,412
ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLAND LANGUAGES	295,706	4,184	127,997	3,173
OTHER INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES	631,592	8,151	237,625	4,699
SPANISH AND SPANISH CREOLE	1,507,700	7,442	679,023	5,839
Speak a language other than English at home	2,540,463	12,204	1,077,695	8,768
Speak only English at home	6,326,029	12,233	(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.

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