Jackson 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 128,900 94.41% 157,236 92.32%
Spanish 4,378 3.21% 9,574 5.62%
Other Indo-European* 2,431 1.78% 2,249 1.32%
Asian Language** 733 0.54% 972 0.57%
Other 90 0.07% 293 0.17%
Total Population Age 5+ 136,532 100.00% 170,324 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 4,406 46.02%
Other Indo-European* 590 26.23%
Asian Language** 406 41.77%
Other Language 44 15.02%
Total 5,446 3.20%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,941 44.34%
Other Indo-European* 479 19.70%
Asian Language** 348 47.48%
Other Language 16 17.78%
Total 2,784 2.04%

* "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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