US language data · 2024 ACS 5-year
Languages spoken in New Jersey
Of 8,816,621 residents of New Jersey aged 5 and over, 2,922,137 (33.1%) speak a language other than English at home, and 1,149,675 (13.0%) speak English less than "very well".
The most common non-English language is Spanish with 1,514,828 speakers, followed by Chinese (incl. Mandarin, Cantonese) (129,959).
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↗ | 1,514,828 | 698,739 | |
| Chinese (incl. Mandarin, Cantonese)↗ | 129,959 | 54,324 | |
| Portuguese↗ | 101,030 | 45,540 | |
| Hindi↗ | 94,063 | 14,429 | |
| Gujarati↗ | 83,883 | 31,081 | |
| Arabic↗ | 82,702 | 26,864 | |
| Tagalog (incl. Filipino)↗ | 79,742 | 21,586 | |
| Korean↗ | 79,256 | 41,754 | |
| Haitian↗ | 61,292 | 25,046 | |
| Polish↗ | 60,965 | 24,441 | |
| Italian↗ | 52,139 | 14,586 | |
| Russian↗ | 51,142 | 18,191 | |
| Yoruba, Twi, Igbo, or other languages of Western Africa↗ | 45,488 | 7,514 | |
| Telugu↗ | 42,514 | 7,375 | |
| French (incl. Cajun)↗ | 38,123 | 8,301 | |
| Urdu↗ | 37,291 | 9,387 | |
| Bengali↗ | 29,107 | 10,101 | |
| Tamil↗ | 27,905 | 3,872 | |
| Other languages of Asia ↗ | 26,396 | 10,139 | |
| Other Indo-European languages ↗ | 26,109 | 7,201 | |
| Nepali, Marathi, or other Indic languages↗ | 25,860 | 4,775 | |
| Ukrainian or other Slavic languages↗ | 25,688 | 10,230 | |
| Hebrew↗ | 21,290 | 2,476 | |
| Malayalam, Kannada, or other Dravidian languages↗ | 20,017 | 3,843 | |
| Other and unspecified languages ↗ | 19,764 | 4,499 | |
| Vietnamese↗ | 19,135 | 10,847 | |
| Greek↗ | 18,610 | 4,718 | |
| German↗ | 17,505 | 2,332 | |
| Punjabi↗ | 17,162 | 5,827 | |
| Yiddish, Pennsylvania Dutch or other West Germanic languages↗ | 14,391 | 1,798 |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates, table B16001. Estimates have margins of error.