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Share of people 5+ with limited English: U.S. states ranked (2025)

Measure: Share of people 5+ with limited English (%). All 46 states and District of Columbia with data in Limited English by age group by state, ranked from highest to lowest. Reference period: 2025.

Licence: Public domain (U.S. federal government work).
Data last updated: 2026-11-14

Download full table CSV Source: U.S. Census Bureau (opens in a new tab)

National value: 4.2 (United States).

Small states, hard to see on the map:

DC 2.1 %
RI 4.6 %
DE 2.8 %
CT 3.7 %
NJ 6.8 %
MD 3.5 %
MA 5.1 %
NH 1 %

Lowest: 0.6 to 1.4 %
Group 2: 1.4 to 1.9 %
Group 3: 1.9 to 2.8 %
Group 4: 2.8 to 4 %
Highest: 4 to 8.4 %

The map is a visual summary; every value is in the table below, which is the keyboard and screen-reader path. Groups are quintiles of the values shown (a derived grouping). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain), simplified. Alaska and Hawaii are shown as insets, not to scale.

Rank is derived by Quadranac: 1 = highest value; ties share a rank. The ranked value is itself derived; see the source table for the method. Values are as published in the source table.

Note: Some smaller states are blank: the Census Bureau did not publish this detailed table for them in the 2025 1-year release.


1	California	8.4
2	New Jersey	6.8
2	New York	6.8
4	Florida	6.7
5	Texas	6.2
6	Massachusetts	5.1
7	Nevada	4.9
8	Rhode Island	4.6
9	Illinois	4.3
10	Arizona	4
10	New Mexico	4
12	Washington	3.8
13	Connecticut	3.7
14	Hawaii	3.5
14	Maryland	3.5
16	Delaware	2.8
16	Georgia	2.8
16	Nebraska	2.8
16	Oregon	2.8
20	North Carolina	2.7
21	Colorado	2.6
21	Utah	2.6
23	Kansas	2.5
23	Virginia	2.5
25	Pennsylvania	2.3
26	District of Columbia	2.1
27	Indiana	1.9
27	Iowa	1.9
27	Minnesota	1.9
27	Tennessee	1.9
31	Louisiana	1.8
31	Oklahoma	1.8
33	South Carolina	1.7
34	Idaho	1.6
35	Kentucky	1.5
35	Michigan	1.5
35	Wisconsin	1.5
38	Arkansas	1.4
39	Ohio	1.3
40	Alaska	1.2
41	Alabama	1.1
42	Missouri	1
42	New Hampshire	1
44	South Dakota	0.9
45	Mississippi	0.8
45	North Dakota	0.8
47	Maine	0.6

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2025 1-year estimates, Table B16004: Age by language spoken at home by ability to speak English for the population 5 years and over. Reference period: 2025.

Cite this ranking

U.S. states ranked by share of people 5+ with limited English (%) (2025). Data: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2025 1-year estimates, Table B16004: Age by language spoken at home by ability to speak English for the population 5 years and over; rank derived by Quadranac. Data last updated 2026-11-14. https://quadranac.com/rankings/us-states-by-share-of-people-5-plus-with-limited-english/

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