University of Illinois Urbana‑Champaign

Language: Languages Spoken at Home

IECAM provides data for the number of children birth through age 5 in households speaking individual languages or related language groups.

*Chinese includes those reporting as speaking Chinese, Mandarin, and Cantonese.

About this data

IECAM provides data for the number of children birth through age 5 in households speaking individual languages or related language groups. Data are based on responses to American Community Survey (ACS) questions, “Does this person speak a language other than English at home?” and “What is this language?” for people age 5 and older. For children under age 5, the data are based on the response to this question by the mother, father or head of household (in order of preference if present in the household). Thus, the data represent the language spoken by the child or likely being learned by the child.

The fact that a child is reported as speaking or learning one of these non-English languages does not imply that the child does not know or is also not learning English.

Source of data: IPUMS

The Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS-USA) consists of more than 50 high-precision samples of the American population drawn from 15 federal censuses and from the American Community Surveys of 2000-2019. IPUMS is published and maintained by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota.

Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs) are geographic areas for which the Census Bureau provides selected extracts of raw data from a small sample of census records that are screened to protect confidentiality. These extracts are referred to as public use microdata sample (PUMS) files. For the decennial census, each state delineates PUMAs for use in presenting PUMS data. These areas are required to contain at least 100,000 people. For more information about PUMAs, visit IECAM’s About Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs) page.

IECAM offers a map of PUMAs in Illinois with PUMAs superimposed over counties.

For more information about PUMAs, visit IECAMs About Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs) page.

For spreadsheets and maps prior to 2016, contact IECAM.