The Top Languages Spoken by English Learners in the United States - Overview of the Most Common Languages, 2019–20

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Sarah

This fact sheet summarizes the most commonly spoken languages among K–12 English learners (ELs) across U.S. states for the 2019–20 school year. It reports state-identified counts and shares for the top five non-English languages and clarifies that reported numbers reflect only ELs in states where each language ranks in the top five. It highlights Spanish dominance, notes exceptions among states, and describes trends for five leading languages from 2006–07 onward.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages2

Reading Time5 min

AccessFree to download

The Top 20 Languages on States’ “Top Five” Lists of Languages Spoken by K–12 ELs: School Year 2019–20

States’ Top 5 Languages, Ranking and Reported Speaker Counts

Five States With Languages Other than Spanish as the Most Common Languages for English Learners: School Year 2019–20

Trends of the Five Most Common Languages: School Years 2006–07 to 2019–20

Percentage of English Learners Who Are Speakers of the Top Five Languages by State: School Year 2019–20

Office of English Language Acquisition The Top Languages Spoken by English Learners in the United States States annually report the five languages other than English most commonly spoken by English learners (ELs) as well as the number ofELs who speak each of the “top five” languages. This fact sheet gives an overview of the most commonly spoken languages during the 2019–20 school year (SY). Fifty languages or language categories appear in one or more states’ top-five lists. 1 The numbers of speakers reported include only those who speak the language in a state where that language is among the top five. This fact sheet does not include all ofthe ELs across the nation who speak the particular language. The Top 20 Languages on States’ “Top Five” Lists of Languages Spoken by K–12 ELs: School Year 2019–20 | Ranking | States’ Top 5 Languages: SY 2019–20 | Number of Speakers Reported a/ | Percent of Total U.S. EL
Students b/ | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | Spanish; Castilian | 3,872, 159 | 75.69% | | 2 | Arabic | 124,410 | 2.43% | | 3 | Chinese | 87,256 | 1.71% | | 4 | Vietnamese | 57,073 | 1.12% | | 5 | Portuguese | 32,017 | 0.63% | | 6 | Haitian; Haitian Creole | 25,404 | 0.50% | | 7 | Hmong | 19,623 | 0.38% | | 8 | Cushitic (Other) | 16,829 | 0.33% | | 9 | Tagalog | 15,787 | 0.31% | | 10 | Russian | 13,905 | 0.27% | | 11 | Somali | 12,600 | 0.25% | | 12 | Urdu | 11,090 | 0.22% | | 13 | Bengali | 9,291 | 0.18% | | 14 | Swahili | 8,327 | 0.16% | | 15 | Navajo; Navaho | 7,235 | 0.14% | | 16 | Karen Languages | 6,455 | 0.13% | | 17 | Polish | 6,080 | 0.12% | | 18 | Marshallese | 5,926 | 0.12% | | 19 | Yupik Languages | 5,179 | 0.10% | | 20 | Amharic | 5,133 | 0.10% | a/ The total number ofELs reported in Grades K–12 for SY 2019–20 was 5,115,887 . b/ Author calculation. Percent = Total number of state-reported speakers of top five languages divided by the total number of ELs in Grades K–12, multiplied by 100. The percent of total U.S. EL students does not necessarily represent the portion of all ELs in U.S. schools who speak a language, only those in states where the language is in the top five. During SY 2019–20, approximately 76% of all ELs spoke Spanish. Spanish was on all states’ “top five” lists and was the most commonly spoken language of ELs in 45 states and the District of Columbia. There were five states where Spanish was not the most common language for ELs. Alaska, Minnesota, Vermont, Hawaii, and Montana had other languages as the most common languages spoken by ELs. Two of these languages are in the top 20 languages spoken by ELs nationwide. In Alaska, the largest percentage (17%) ofELs spoke Yupik languages. Somali was the most common language reported in Minnesota, spoken by 12% ofEls. Five States With Languages Other than Spanish as the Most Common Languages for English Learners: School Year 2019–20 NOTE: State education agencies report the top five languages and the number of all ELs, not just ELs receiving Title III services, speaking each of the top five languages. 1 Language categories, or language families, are groups of languages that exhibit linguistic similarities, often due to geographic region. The Library of Congress is the registration authority for the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 639-5 standards, a set of codes that represent languages and language families. For more information, see [https://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-5/id.php](https://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-5/id.php) 400 MARYLAND AVE., SW • WASHINGTON, DC 20202 • WWW.ED.GOV FEBRUARY 2023 Trends ofthe Five Most Common Languages: School Years 2006–07 to 2019–20 Since SY 2006–07, three out of the five most common EL languages experienced an increase in speakers. After Spanish, which grew by more than 130,000 speakers since SY 2006–07, Arabic experienced the largest and the steadiest increase, rising from less than 40,000 speakers in SY 2006–07 to almost 125,000 speakers in SY 2019

FAQs

What does the fact sheet report about English learners’ languages for 2019–20?

It reports the five languages other than English most commonly spoken by English learners across U.S. states, along with the number of EL speakers for each “top five” language.

How should the reported speaker counts and percentages be interpreted?

Counts include only ELs who speak the language in states where that language is among the top five. The percentage reflects the share within states that report the language in their top five, not the nationwide portion of all ELs.

Which language was most commonly spoken by English learners during 2019–20, and were there exceptions?

Spanish was spoken by approximately 76% of all ELs and appeared on all states’ top five lists. Five states identified other languages as most common, including Yupik languages in Alaska and Somali in Minnesota.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Sarah