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 133,932 96.57% 141,475 95.61%
Spanish 1,547 1.12% 3,071 2.08%
Other Indo-European* 2,631 1.90% 2,670 1.80%
Asian Language** 461 0.33% 556 0.38%
Other 119 0.09% 203 0.14%
Total Population Age 5+ 138,690 100.00% 147,975 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,131 36.83%
Other Indo-European* 504 18.88%
Asian Language** 283 50.90%
Other Language 82 40.39%
Total 2,000 1.35%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 470 30.38%
Other Indo-European* 557 21.17%
Asian Language** 225 48.81%
Other Language 63 52.94%
Total 1,315 0.95%

* "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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