Top 10 Languages

King County growth brings increasing cultural and linguistic diversity.

An incredible diversity of languages are spoken by King County residents. Overall, roughly a third of King County residents speak a language other than English at home. Spanish is the most commonly spoken language after English, with an estimated 158,000 King County residents speaking primarily Spanish at home. There are also 116,000 King County residents who speak Chinese at home. Rounding out the most commonly spoken languages are Vietnamese (49,000 residents); Hindi (34,000); Russian (28,000); Tagalog (27,000); Afro-Asiatic languages including Amharic and Somali (26,000); Korean (23,000); Telugu (16,000); and Japanese (15,000).   

The most commonly spoken languages vary by region within King County. For example, in South King County, Austronesian languages (including Ilocano, Samoan, and Hawaiian, with 8,400 speakers) and Slavic languages (including Ukrainian, with 7,800 speakers) are also in the top 10. In East King County, Tamil (6,400 speakers) ranks 8th and Portuguese (5,200 speakers) is 10th.  

The U.S. Census Bureau also uses geographic areas called PUMAs, or Public Use Microdata Areas, which group cities and other unincorporated areas and are smaller than the four major King County regions. Looking at the top 10 languages after English by PUMA can help identify smaller language communities, such as the approximately 2,100 people that speak Khmer and the 2,000 people that speak Manding languages in the Renton/Fairwood/Skyway/Bryn Mawr area. Other languages that are in the top 10 after English for at least one PUMA in King County include: Arabic; other Bantu languages; Bengali; Chin languages; Dravidian languages (such as Malayalam and Kannada); French; German; Hebrew; Hmong; Italian; Oromo; Nepali, Merathi, and other Indic languages; Persian (including Farsi and Dari); Punjabi; Polish; Serbo-Croatian; Swahili and other languages of Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa; and Thai, Lao, and other Tai-Kadai languages. 

Many King County residents are fluent in multiple languages. While 29.4% speak a language other than English at home, 10.7% speak English less than “very well.” Ensuring language access for all King County residents is essential so that community members can access information and resources regardless of their English proficiency.  

 

Notes & Sources

Source: American Community Survey (ACS). 

To learn more about the American Community Survey and view the data biography, click here.