Erie 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 817,974 90.70% 812,588 91.01%
Spanish 18,298 2.03% 26,315 2.95%
Other Indo-European* 55,757 6.18% 40,851 4.58%
Asian Language** 5,620 0.62% 7,582 0.85%
Other 4,232 0.47% 5,543 0.62%
Total Population Age 5+ 901,881 100.00% 892,879 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 9,792 37.21%
Other Indo-European* 12,180 29.82%
Asian Language** 3,615 47.68%
Other Language 1,837 33.14%
Total 27,424 3.07%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 7,307 39.93%
Other Indo-European* 16,282 29.20%
Asian Language** 2,687 47.81%
Other Language 1,302 30.77%
Total 27,578 3.06%

* "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).

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