DuPage County

LANGUAGE

The Census asks questions about language use at home to locate groups of people who speak a language other than English. Their isolation or integration into a primarily English speaking community can be determined by their ability to speak English proficiently.

Language Spoken at Home, 1990-2000
1990 2000
Number Percent Number Percent
Only English 623,929 86.89% 664,523 79.24%
Spanish 25,219 3.51% 64,823 7.73%
Other Indo-European* 48,144 6.70% 70,539 8.41%
Asian Language** 18,357 2.56% 34,258 4.08%
Other 2,453 0.34% 4,493 0.54%
Total Population Age 5+ 718,102 100.00% 838,636 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 35,070 54.10%
Other Indo-European* 22,936 32.52%
Asian Language** 11,954 34.89%
Other Language 1,228 27.33%
Total 71,188 8.49%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 11,890 47.15%
Other Indo-European* 13,479 28.00%
Asian Language** 7,058 38.45%
Other Language 677 27.60%
Total 33,104 4.61%

* "Other Indo-European" excludes English and Spanish. "Indo-European" is not synonymous with "European." French, German, Hindi, and Persian are all classified as Indo-European. Hungarian, on the other hand, is lumped into "Other Language."

** "Asian Language" includes languages indigenous to Asia and Pacific islands areas that are not also Indo-European languages. Chinese, Japanese, Telugu, and Hawaiian are all classified here.

Also note that ability to speak English "very well" is based on the self-assessment of those responding to Census questions, not on a test of language ability.

Source: Census 2000 analyzed by the Social Science Data Analysis Network (SSDAN).

Home | About | Help | Contact | Use Policy