Languages Spoken in Maine: Map and County Data
Languages Spoken Across Maine Counties
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2011–2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, about 83,800 people age 5 and older in Maine speak a language other than English at home, representing 6.6% of the state’s population age 5+. French is the most spoken non-English language, with about 41,700 speakers, followed by Spanish and German.
Most Spoken Non-English Languages in Maine
The most spoken non-English languages in Maine are French, Spanish, and German. French is spoken at home by about 41,700 people, or roughly 3.3% of the state’s population age 5+.
Key Language Findings for Maine
About 83,800 people in Maine speak a language other than English at home, representing 6.6% of residents age 5 and older.
The most spoken non-English languages in Maine are French, Spanish, and German.
French is the most spoken non-English language in Maine, with about 41,700 speakers, representing roughly 3.3% of residents age 5 and older.
Aroostook County has the largest French-speaking population in Maine, with about 9,800 speakers.
Cumberland County has the largest population speaking a language other than English at home, with more than 20,800 residents.
While French is the most spoken non-English language statewide, another language leads in 3 of the 16 Maine counties, including other Native North American languages in Washington County.
How Language Use Varies Across Maine Counties
Language patterns differ sharply by county. French is the leading non-English language across most of Maine, but county-level rankings show large local communities speaking Spanish, African languages, German, Chinese, other Native North American languages, Arabic, Thai, and other languages.
Cumberland County has the largest number of residents speaking a language other than English at home, while Aroostook County has the highest share relative to its age-5+ population, at 16.6%. In Washington County, other Native North American languages are the leading non-English language, showing how statewide rankings can differ substantially at the local level.
English Proficiency and Language Access in Maine
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+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aroostook County | 11,048 | French 9,800 | Spanish 436 | German 192 | Other West Germanic 130 | Other Native North American 98 | Italian 53 | 66,667 | |
| Androscoggin County | 12,267 | French 8,913 | Spanish 1,196 | African languages 506 | Chinese 233 | Arabic 175 | Vietnamese 174 | 100,799 | |
| Cumberland County | 20,892 | French 4,659 | Spanish 3,836 | African languages 2,585 | Arabic 1,243 | Vietnamese 1,134 | Mon-Khmer / Cambodian 745 | 271,878 | |
| York County | 13,134 | French 7,335 | Spanish 1,752 | Arabic 494 | Tagalog / Filipino 419 | German 396 | Chinese 336 | 189,989 | |
| Kennebec County | 6,720 | French 3,357 | Spanish 1,242 | German 384 | Chinese 323 | Arabic 177 | Russian 163 | 115,094 | |
| Washington County | 1,775 | Other Native North American 664 | Spanish 451 | French 216 | German 101 | Chinese 63 | Thai 44 | 30,619 | |
| Penobscot County | 6,429 | French 2,750 | Spanish 1,103 | Chinese 536 | German 514 | Tagalog / Filipino 171 | Korean 156 | 146,048 | |
| Sagadahoc County | 1,456 | French 544 | Spanish 370 | German 246 | Russian 53 | Tagalog / Filipino 51 | Italian 46 | 33,388 | |
| Lincoln County | 1,360 | French 480 | Spanish 217 | Thai 174 | German 155 | Tagalog / Filipino 81 | Vietnamese 37 | 32,712 | |
| Waldo County | 1,417 | French 353 | Spanish 289 | German 288 | Vietnamese 92 | Scandinavian 67 | Chinese 66 | 36,993 | |
| Knox County | 1,273 | Spanish 332 | French 328 | German 112 | Italian 84 | Vietnamese 69 | African languages 64 | 37,968 | |
| Hancock County | 1,617 | Spanish 436 | French 426 | Chinese 150 | German 131 | Scandinavian 71 | Other Indic 55 | 52,261 | |
| Somerset County | 1,536 | French 993 | Spanish 127 | German 92 | Portuguese 69 | Tagalog / Filipino 67 | Other West Germanic 55 | 49,124 | |
| Franklin County | 880 | French 516 | Spanish 137 | Thai 103 | African languages 26 | German 25 | Chinese 16 | 28,965 | |
| Piscataquis County | 496 | French 263 | Spanish 120 | Chinese 32 | Italian 26 | Other Indo-European 17 | German 12 | 16,419 | |
| Oxford County | 1,456 | French 731 | Spanish 257 | Mon-Khmer / Cambodian 63 | Other / unspecified 62 | Chinese 48 | Korean 36 | 54,770 |
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.