Map of Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Populations by State

More than 25 million households in the United States are considered limited English proficient (LEP) — meaning at least one adult in the home speaks English less than “very well,” according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (2019–2023). These households span every state in the country, representing dozens of languages and millions of individuals who face daily barriers to healthcare, legal services, education, and emergency response.

Key findings from the data:

• California has the highest LEP concentration in the nation — 7.6% of all households, with more than 587,000 Spanish-speaking LEP households
• Texas leads in total Spanish-speaking LEP households — over 600,000, more than any other state
• New York has the most linguistically diverse LEP population — with significant concentrations across Spanish, Chinese, Russian, and other Indo-European languages
• No state is without an LEP population — even the lowest-concentration states, West Virginia (0.3%) and Montana (0.4%), have thousands of households requiring language access services
• Asian and Pacific Island languages are the dominant LEP language group in Hawaii — accounting for the majority of the state’s 4.6% LEP household rate

The states with the highest concentration of LEP households are concentrated along the coasts and in the Southwest — California leads the nation at 7.6%, followed by New York (6.7%) and New Jersey (6.4%). Spanish is the most common language among LEP households in nearly every state, but Asian and Pacific Island languages and other Indo-European languages represent a significant share of the LEP population, particularly in states like Hawaii, Michigan, and Massachusetts.

For organizations operating across state lines — in healthcare, government, legal services, and beyond — understanding where LEP populations are concentrated is the first step toward building equitable language access programs. Boostlingo provides on-demand interpretation, event interpreting, IMS, and document translation services purpose-built for the scale and complexity of serving LEP communities nationwide.