Among the most common Native North American languages that had fewer speakers in 2021 than in 2013: Navajo (166,826 vs. 161,174); Zuni (9,615 vs. 8,109); and Choctaw (9,635 vs. 7,260). The number of Cherokee (10,440) and Hopi (7,105) speakers did not significantly change.

Of the 29 Native North American languages for which both 2013 and 2021 data were available, 10 had fewer speakers; three (Northern Paiute, Ottawa, and Pacific Gulf Yupik) had more; and 16 had the same number of speakers in both years.

In some cases, differences between years may stem from changes made to ACS language coding in 2016, which increased the number of language categories and improved the precision of language reporting.

In nine of the 50 states (and the District of Columbia), a Native North American language was among the top 15 languages other than English spoken at home by the population 5 years and over in 2021 (Figure 2).

Native North American languages were among the most spoken languages in nine states:

• Alaska (Central Yupik, Inupiaq, and Central Siberian Yupik).
• Arizona (Navajo and Western Apache).
• Mississippi (Choctaw).
• Montana (Crow, Siksika, Kalispel-Pend d’Oreille, Cheyenne).
• New Mexico (Navajo, Eastern Keres, Zuni, Tewa, Jemez, Southern Tiwa).
• Oklahoma (Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw).
• South Dakota (Lakota and Dakota).
• Utah (Navajo).
• Wyoming (Arapaho, Shoshoni, Navajo).

Roughly half (47%) of those who spoke a Native North American language spoke Navajo. Given the nation’s large number of Navajo speakers, Navajo was among the top 15 languages in four states: Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.

Six Native North American languages were among the top 15 languages other than English in New Mexico — the most of any state. Navajo was also the most spoken language other than Spanish among New Mexico residents who spoke a language other than English.

In some states, Native North American languages ranked among the top 15 languages other than English, even though the total number of speakers was relatively small.

In Wyoming, for example, the population age 5 and older was 542,379 in 2021 and only about 7% (37,140) spoke a language other than English at home. Among some of the most spoken languages: Arapaho (1,057 speakers, fourth place), Shoshoni (420, ninth), and Navajo (234, 13th).

Today’s release helps enhance the understanding of Native North American language use by identifying where these languages were spoken; how many people spoke them; and how these numbers changed from 2013 to 2021.

All comparative statements have undergone statistical testing and are statistically significant at the 90% confidence level unless otherwise noted. Definitions and more information about confidentiality protection and sampling and nonsampling error are available in this technical documentation.

Top 15 languages other than English spoken at home are based on point estimates alone and differences between ranks may not be significant at the 90% confidence level.