US language data · 2024 ACS 5-year
Languages spoken in Massachusetts
Of 6,694,960 residents of Massachusetts aged 5 and over, 1,679,100 (25.1%) speak a language other than English at home, and 669,748 (10.0%) speak English less than "very well".
The most common non-English language is Spanish with 646,141 speakers, followed by Portuguese (228,351).
Limited-English-proficiency counts are the best public proxy for local demand for interpreters and document translation in healthcare, courts, schools and social services.
| Language spoken at home | Speakers (5+) | Speak English < “very well” | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spanish↗ | 646,141 | 283,213 | |
| Portuguese↗ | 228,351 | 106,878 | |
| Chinese (incl. Mandarin, Cantonese)↗ | 145,199 | 68,564 | |
| Haitian↗ | 84,163 | 36,914 | |
| Vietnamese↗ | 45,786 | 26,602 | |
| French (incl. Cajun)↗ | 45,396 | 8,807 | |
| Arabic↗ | 41,753 | 14,664 | |
| Russian↗ | 36,221 | 13,911 | |
| Hindi↗ | 32,437 | 4,379 | |
| Other Indo-European languages ↗ | 31,185 | 10,787 | |
| Italian↗ | 26,270 | 6,366 | |
| Khmer↗ | 22,795 | 11,999 | |
| Yoruba, Twi, Igbo, or other languages of Western Africa↗ | 19,831 | 4,557 | |
| Greek↗ | 19,743 | 4,954 | |
| Swahili or other languages of Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa↗ | 19,199 | 4,178 | |
| Korean↗ | 18,654 | 6,955 | |
| Nepali, Marathi, or other Indic languages↗ | 16,767 | 5,055 | |
| German↗ | 16,379 | 1,125 | |
| Polish↗ | 13,769 | 4,447 | |
| Gujarati↗ | 12,762 | 3,755 | |
| Telugu↗ | 12,507 | 2,589 | |
| Tamil↗ | 11,025 | 1,565 | |
| Other languages of Asia ↗ | 10,514 | 3,394 | |
| Bengali↗ | 10,104 | 3,121 | |
| Amharic, Somali, or other Afro-Asiatic languages↗ | 10,075 | 4,161 | |
| Other and unspecified languages ↗ | 9,925 | 2,028 | |
| Ukrainian or other Slavic languages↗ | 9,755 | 3,154 | |
| Hebrew↗ | 9,500 | 1,267 | |
| Urdu↗ | 9,080 | 2,090 | |
| Persian (incl. Farsi, Dari)↗ | 8,895 | 2,783 |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates, table B16001. Estimates have margins of error.