Languages Spoken in Colorado: Map and County Data
Languages Spoken Across Colorado Counties
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2011–2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, about 836,000 people age 5 and older in Colorado speak a language other than English at home, representing 16.9% of the state’s population age 5+. Spanish is the most spoken non-English language, with about 584,000 speakers, followed by German and Chinese.
Most Spoken Non-English Languages in Colorado
The most spoken non-English languages in Colorado are Spanish, German, and Chinese. Spanish is spoken at home by about 584,000 people, or roughly 11.8% of the state’s population age 5+.
Key Language Findings for Colorado
About 836,000 people in Colorado speak a language other than English at home, representing 16.9% of residents age 5 and older.
The most spoken non-English languages in Colorado are Spanish, German, and Chinese.
Spanish is the most spoken non-English language in Colorado, with about 584,000 speakers, representing roughly 11.8% of residents age 5 and older.
Denver County has the largest Spanish-speaking population in Colorado, with about 126,000 speakers.
Denver County has the largest population speaking a language other than English at home, with more than 165,000 residents.
While Spanish is the most spoken non-English language statewide, German is the leading non-English language in Kiowa County.
How Language Use Varies Across Colorado Counties
Language patterns differ sharply by county. Spanish is the leading non-English language across most of Colorado, but county-level rankings show large local communities speaking African languages, German, Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese, Navajo, other Slavic languages, and other languages.
Denver County has the largest number of residents speaking a language other than English at home, while Costilla County has the highest share relative to its age-5+ population, at 47.3%. In Kiowa County, German is the leading non-English language, showing how statewide rankings can differ substantially at the local level.
English Proficiency and Language Access in Colorado
Speaking a language other than English at home does not necessarily mean someone has limited English proficiency. Census table B16001 also separates language groups by whether residents report speaking English "very well" or less than "very well," providing additional context for organizations planning language access services. For a broader look at limited English proficiency across the country, explore Boostlingo's LEP State Map.
Plan Language Access Around the Communities You Serve
Boostlingo helps healthcare, government, education, legal, and business organizations connect people with interpreting and translation services across hundreds of languages.
Explore Interpreter ServicesSearch or sort the full county dataset to compare the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home and the six most spoken non-English languages in each county.
| County | % Other Language | Other-Language Speakers | #1 Language | #2 Language | #3 Language | #4 Language | #5 Language | #6 Language | Population Age 5+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Costilla County | 1,613 | Spanish 1,547 | Other Slavic 28 | German 13 | French 11 | Other Native North American 10 | Polish 2 | 3,408 | |
| Saguache County | 1,962 | Spanish 1,734 | Chinese 62 | German 41 | Other Asian 20 | French 19 | Serbo-Croatian 17 | 5,827 | |
| Conejos County | 2,518 | Spanish 2,401 | German 41 | Italian 20 | Other West Germanic 9 | Other Indic 9 | Other Pacific Island 8 | 7,671 | |
| Eagle County | 14,598 | Spanish 12,368 | Other Slavic 612 | Italian 245 | French 231 | Other Indic 195 | Other Indo-European 160 | 49,220 | |
| Adams County | 123,532 | Spanish 100,057 | Vietnamese 3,326 | African languages 2,156 | Chinese 2,149 | Hmong 1,719 | German 1,612 | 434,033 | |
| Denver County | 165,850 | Spanish 125,614 | African languages 5,816 | Vietnamese 5,368 | Chinese 4,039 | French 2,800 | Arabic 2,746 | 604,938 | |
| Morgan County | 7,004 | Spanish 6,299 | African languages 268 | German 129 | Chinese 70 | Other Asian 68 | Arabic 46 | 26,229 | |
| Lake County | 1,792 | Spanish 1,486 | French 122 | Arabic 121 | German 41 | Hebrew 20 | Navajo 2 | 6,849 | |
| Garfield County | 12,978 | Spanish 12,198 | French 160 | German 151 | Japanese 78 | Polish 63 | Other West Germanic 57 | 52,870 | |
| Prowers County | 2,718 | Spanish 2,544 | Arabic 47 | French 41 | Chinese 38 | Other Pacific Island 14 | Scandinavian 11 | 11,353 | |
| Rio Grande County | 2,635 | Spanish 2,347 | Other West Germanic 159 | Navajo 37 | German 29 | Korean 16 | Polish 15 | 11,008 | |
| Alamosa County | 3,410 | Spanish 3,193 | Chinese 76 | Other / unspecified 41 | Other West Germanic 24 | Japanese 21 | German 9 | 15,070 | |
| Arapahoe County | 126,359 | Spanish 68,382 | African languages 9,391 | Korean 6,135 | Russian 5,356 | Vietnamese 3,895 | Other Asian 3,871 | 567,763 | |
| Weld County | 46,502 | Spanish 40,931 | German 1,046 | African languages 484 | Chinese 481 | Other Asian 449 | French 384 | 250,991 | |
| Yuma County | 1,603 | Spanish 1,526 | German 44 | Polish 13 | Italian 11 | Other Pacific Island 4 | Chinese 3 | 9,351 | |
| Bent County | 948 | Spanish 889 | Italian 17 | German 13 | Vietnamese 12 | Tagalog / Filipino 9 | Other West Germanic 3 | 5,674 | |
| Boulder County | 47,996 | Spanish 27,598 | Chinese 2,824 | German 2,215 | French 2,196 | Korean 1,240 | Other Indic 1,082 | 294,169 | |
| Otero County | 2,833 | Spanish 2,534 | Other Pacific Island 152 | French 39 | Vietnamese 27 | Chinese 18 | German 17 | 17,424 | |
| Phillips County | 643 | Spanish 629 | German 7 | Other Pacific Island 4 | French 3 | — | — | 4,091 | |
| Montrose County | 6,028 | Spanish 5,666 | German 93 | Thai 66 | Tagalog / Filipino 48 | Vietnamese 39 | Chinese 36 | 38,545 | |
| Las Animas County | 2,143 | Spanish 1,852 | Other / unspecified 80 | Korean 39 | German 34 | Other West Germanic 30 | Italian 24 | 13,792 | |
| Pitkin County | 2,532 | Spanish 1,442 | Portuguese 154 | French 140 | Scandinavian 113 | Tagalog / Filipino 104 | Other Asian 90 | 16,684 | |
| Kit Carson County | 1,122 | Spanish 997 | German 77 | Other Indic 12 | Other West Germanic 11 | Korean 11 | Scandinavian 6 | 7,455 | |
| Pueblo County | 22,728 | Spanish 20,042 | German 526 | Italian 378 | French 365 | Russian 200 | Chinese 163 | 151,600 | |
| Summit County | 4,126 | Spanish 3,347 | African languages 177 | Chinese 141 | French 126 | Vietnamese 76 | Russian 74 | 27,525 | |
| Broomfield County | 7,594 | Spanish 3,355 | Chinese 534 | Hmong 426 | German 359 | French 350 | Other Asian 347 | 57,015 | |
| Archuleta County | 1,531 | Spanish 1,200 | German 185 | French 30 | Russian 24 | Thai 20 | Tagalog / Filipino 13 | 11,580 | |
| Montezuma County | 2,883 | Spanish 1,206 | Navajo 907 | Other Native North American 329 | German 216 | Other Asian 84 | Other Pacific Island 35 | 24,090 | |
| El Paso County | 71,908 | Spanish 44,184 | German 5,564 | Korean 3,725 | Tagalog / Filipino 2,135 | Chinese 2,030 | French 1,785 | 609,044 | |
| Huerfano County | 754 | Spanish 658 | German 32 | Polish 28 | Italian 18 | Hindi 6 | Chinese 6 | 6,396 | |
| Lincoln County | 605 | Spanish 538 | Japanese 32 | Hebrew 16 | Hungarian 12 | French 2 | German 2 | 5,163 | |
| Crowley County | 604 | Spanish 547 | German 38 | Japanese 9 | Other Asian 6 | Chinese 2 | Tagalog / Filipino 2 | 5,338 | |
| Logan County | 2,286 | Spanish 1,717 | Chinese 440 | German 80 | French 13 | Japanese 10 | Navajo 8 | 20,783 | |
| Moffat County | 1,340 | Spanish 1,055 | Navajo 71 | Chinese 42 | Russian 39 | German 33 | French 32 | 12,198 | |
| Jackson County | 135 | Spanish 135 | — | — | — | — | — | 1,284 | |
| Jefferson County | 54,599 | Spanish 31,708 | German 2,911 | Vietnamese 2,604 | Russian 2,246 | Chinese 1,996 | French 1,591 | 522,660 | |
| La Plata County | 5,203 | Spanish 3,466 | Navajo 404 | Other Native North American 382 | German 214 | Italian 129 | Thai 123 | 50,363 | |
| San Miguel County | 731 | Spanish 590 | French 46 | Italian 31 | German 22 | Korean 10 | Russian 9 | 7,288 | |
| Fremont County | 4,291 | Spanish 3,194 | German 254 | Other Native North American 220 | Chinese 113 | Navajo 80 | Arabic 75 | 44,889 | |
| Delta County | 2,702 | Spanish 2,303 | German 104 | French 68 | Russian 43 | Japanese 40 | Korean 35 | 28,700 | |
| Douglas County | 26,053 | Spanish 10,753 | Chinese 1,922 | German 1,488 | Other Asian 1,328 | Hindi 1,259 | Korean 1,063 | 286,824 | |
| Sedgwick County | 203 | Spanish 181 | Chinese 5 | Tagalog / Filipino 4 | French 3 | Other West Germanic 3 | Other / unspecified 3 | 2,224 | |
| Gunnison County | 1,325 | Spanish 992 | German 124 | Tagalog / Filipino 40 | Russian 35 | Korean 34 | French 32 | 14,879 | |
| Grand County | 1,204 | Spanish 421 | Other Slavic 198 | Other Indo-European 130 | German 120 | Russian 111 | Japanese 85 | 13,729 | |
| Cheyenne County | 161 | Spanish 134 | Tagalog / Filipino 14 | Vietnamese 7 | German 6 | — | — | 1,860 | |
| Larimer County | 26,131 | Spanish 15,629 | German 1,419 | Chinese 1,361 | Arabic 792 | French 696 | Korean 613 | 300,772 | |
| Rio Blanco County | 524 | Spanish 470 | Russian 22 | German 21 | Greek 7 | French 3 | Arabic 1 | 6,164 | |
| Ouray County | 374 | Spanish 235 | Russian 46 | German 43 | French 34 | Scandinavian 6 | Other West Germanic 5 | 4,449 | |
| Custer County | 313 | Spanish 138 | German 109 | Other Native North American 56 | Italian 10 | — | — | 4,175 | |
| Mesa County | 9,498 | Spanish 7,748 | German 355 | Other West Germanic 235 | French 184 | Russian 151 | Chinese 134 | 138,310 | |
| San Juan County | 39 | Spanish 39 | — | — | — | — | — | 568 | |
| Baca County | 236 | Spanish 193 | German 22 | Other West Germanic 14 | Polish 3 | Thai 3 | Greek 1 | 3,462 | |
| Routt County | 1,449 | Spanish 873 | Other Slavic 236 | French 107 | Russian 54 | Italian 41 | Arabic 30 | 22,512 | |
| Washington County | 288 | Spanish 228 | German 45 | Tagalog / Filipino 7 | Other Native North American 5 | Other West Germanic 2 | Russian 1 | 4,557 | |
| Hinsdale County | 49 | Spanish 21 | German 13 | French 6 | Other West Germanic 4 | Tagalog / Filipino 4 | Hindi 1 | 820 | |
| Chaffee County | 922 | Spanish 676 | French 64 | Greek 56 | Other Slavic 32 | German 30 | Other Indic 23 | 17,553 | |
| Gilpin County | 265 | Spanish 204 | German 37 | Italian 16 | Korean 8 | — | — | 5,429 | |
| Elbert County | 1,107 | Spanish 765 | German 182 | French 58 | Chinese 19 | Scandinavian 16 | Other / unspecified 15 | 22,936 | |
| Park County | 750 | Spanish 330 | Portuguese 104 | Tagalog / Filipino 85 | Arabic 73 | German 50 | Persian 27 | 15,562 | |
| Teller County | 1,055 | Spanish 490 | German 163 | Other Asian 70 | Japanese 66 | Chinese 59 | Other West Germanic 34 | 22,349 | |
| Clear Creek County | 314 | Spanish 170 | German 61 | Portuguese 31 | Russian 16 | Other Native North American 15 | Other Indic 12 | 8,740 | |
| Kiowa County | 43 | German 22 | Spanish 16 | French 3 | Japanese 2 | — | — | 1,354 | |
| Dolores County | 47 | Spanish 37 | German 5 | Chinese 4 | Italian 1 | — | — | 1,748 | |
| Mineral County | 17 | Spanish 11 | Other Slavic 5 | French 1 | — | — | — | 725 |
About the Data
Data on this page comes from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2011–2015 5-Year Estimates, table B16001, Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over. Statewide and county estimates use the same Census table so the figures can be compared consistently across the page.
The estimates describe languages spoken at home among residents age 5 and older. Census estimates include margins of error, particularly for smaller counties and less common language groups.