Editor’s Note: The above video shows where the population grew the most in Texas in 2022.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — A third of Texans speak a language other than English at home, according to new estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The agency released the latest data from its American Community Survey (ACS) Thursday. The new five-year ACS estimates summarize data from 2018 to 2022.
The ACS shows of the 27.3 million people aged five or older living in Texas, 17.7 million speak English at home — 64.9% of all Texans.
About 28.5% speak Spanish at home — almost 7.8 million people — and about 6.6% speak another language at home.
English is spoken at home by a majority of people in 222 of Texas’ 254 counties, including 38 counties in which more than 90% of the population aged five and above speak English.
Newton County, along the Louisiana border northeast of Beaumont, has the highest share of English speakers, with 98.4% of people only speaking English at home.
Spanish is spoken by a majority in 29 counties, including six in which more than 80% of people speak the language at home.
Starr County, west of McAllen, has the highest percentage of Spanish speakers. About 91% of people aged five and above in the border county speak Spanish at home.
Last year, the Census Bureau estimated that Hispanic residents now make up a plurality of Texas’ population. The agency estimated Hispanic Texans made up 40.2% of the state population, while non-Hispanic white Texans made up 39.4%.
Here’s a look at the data from Texas’ largest counties:
- Harris County: 55.2% English, 35.4% Spanish, 9.4% other
- Dallas County: 56.9% English, 34.4% Spanish, 8.7% other
- Tarrant County: 70.7% English, 20.9% Spanish, 8.4% other
- Bexar County: 62.0% English, 34.0% Spanish, 4.0% other
- Travis County: 70.4% English, 21.1% Spanish, 8.5% other
- Collin County: 70.3% English, 11.2% Spanish, 18.6% other
- Denton County: 76.6% English, 12.8% Spanish, 10.6% other
- El Paso County: 30.7% English, 67.3% Spanish, 1.9% other
- Hidalgo County: 18.2% English, 80.7% Spanish, 1.1% other
- Fort Bend County: 59.5% English, 17.3% Spanish, 23.3% other
Nationwide, 78.3% of Americans speak only English at home, according to the new estimates.
