The Census Bureau provided an opportunity for people to respond online or over the telephone in English and 12 non-English languages during the 2020 Census. In addition, respondents could access video and print guides in English and 59 non-English languages. The availability of 2020 Census materials in English and the 59 non-English languages covered the language needs of more than 99 percent of all U.S. households. The non-English language support for the 2020 Census was a significant expansion of efforts from previous censuses. 

Results show that approximately 2,860,350 responses were collected in non-English languages. The total number of non-English responses represents approximately 2.5 percent of all 2020 Census self-responses and represent approximately 53.9 percent of limited-English speaking households in the U.S. (that is, those households in which no one 14 years old or over speaks only English or speaks English “very well.”). Furthermore, findings indicate that there was a notable increase in non-English responses for the 2020 Census compared to the 2010 Census. Data show that we received almost 200,000 more total self-responses in non-English languages than in the previous census.

Key recommendations for the development of the language program to support the 2030 Census are as follows: continue to centralize all translation work within the Decennial Translation Branch; continue to use a data-driven methodology to determine supported languages and the level of support; and use American Community Survey estimates from the sixth year of the decade (2026) to inform the selection of supported languages for the 2030 Census.