Jun 10, 2025 - News
Tagalog tops California languages after English and Spanish
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Tagalog is the most commonly spoken language in California other than English and Spanish, per new census data.
Why it matters: The myriad languages spoken nationwide reflect both the history of settlement and colonization and modern immigration patterns.
By the numbers: California is home to 16.2 million residents who speak a language other than English at home, and 10.5 million of them speak Spanish.
- There are 646,000 primarily Tagalog speakers, narrowly edging out 641,000 Chinese speakers.
- Vietnamese and Korean are the next most commonly spoken languages.