German language in the United States

American German
US German
Deutsch der Vereinigten Staaten
RegionUnited States
EthnicityGerman Americans
Austrian Americans
Swiss Americans
Liechtensteiner Americans
Belgian Americans
Luxembourgian Americans
Native speakers
1.06 million (2009–2013)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
IETFde-US
German language spread in the United States, 2000
German speakers in the United States
Year
Speakers
1910a
2,759,032
1920a
Decrease 2,267,128
1930a
Decrease 2,188,006
1940a
Decrease 1,589,048
1960a
Decrease 1,332,399
1970a
Decrease 1,201,535
1980[2]
Increase 1,586,593
1990[3]
Decrease 1,547,987
2000[4]
Decrease 1,383,442
^a Foreign-born population only[5]

Over 50 million Americans claim German ancestry, which makes them the largest single claimed ancestry group in the United States. Around 1.06 million people in the United States speak the German language at home.[6] It is the second most spoken language in North Dakota (1.39% of its population)[7] and is the third most spoken language in 16 other states.[8]

  1. ^ US Census Bureau American Community Survey (2009 - 2013) See Row #24
  2. ^ "Appendix Table 2. Languages Spoken at Home: 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2007". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  3. ^ "Detailed Language Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for Persons 5 Years and Over --50 Languages with Greatest Number of Speakers: United States 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 22, 2012.
  4. ^ "Language Spoken at Home: 2000". United States Bureau of the Census. Archived from the original on February 12, 2020. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
  5. ^ "Mother Tongue of the Foreign-Born Population: 1910 to 1940, 1960, and 1970". United States Census Bureau. March 9, 1999. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  6. ^ "US Census Bureau American Community Survey (2009-2013)" (XLS). Census.gov. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  7. ^ "Language Map Data Center". Mla.org. April 3, 2013. Retrieved November 8, 2013.
  8. ^ Blatt, Ben (May 13, 2014), Tagalog in California, Cherokee in Arkansas: What language does your state speak?, retrieved May 13, 2014