Languages Spoken in South Carolina: Map and County Data
Languages Spoken Across South Carolina Counties
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2011–2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, about 308,000 people age 5 and older in South Carolina speak a language other than English at home, representing 6.9% of the state’s population age 5+. Spanish is the most spoken non-English language, with about 197,000 speakers, followed by German and French.
Most Spoken Non-English Languages in South Carolina
The most spoken non-English languages in South Carolina are Spanish, German, and French. Spanish is spoken at home by about 197,000 people, or roughly 4.4% of the state’s population age 5+.
Key Language Findings for South Carolina
About 308,000 people in South Carolina speak a language other than English at home, representing 6.9% of residents age 5 and older.
The most spoken non-English languages in South Carolina are Spanish, German, and French.
Spanish is the most spoken non-English language in South Carolina, with about 197,000 speakers, representing roughly 4.4% of residents age 5 and older.
Greenville County has the largest Spanish-speaking population in South Carolina, with about 34,100 speakers.
Greenville County has the largest population speaking a language other than English at home, with more than 49,400 residents.
Spanish is the leading non-English language in every one of the 46 South Carolina counties, and accounts for about 64% of all residents who speak a language other than English at home.
How Language Use Varies Across South Carolina Counties
Language patterns differ sharply by county. With Spanish first everywhere, county-level rankings are most revealing in second and third place, where large local communities speak Chinese, German, French, Tagalog / Filipino, Russian, Gujarati, other Slavic languages, and other languages.
Greenville County has the largest number of residents speaking a language other than English at home, while Saluda County has the highest share relative to its age-5+ population, at 13.5%.
English Proficiency and Language Access in South Carolina
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+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saluda County | 2,528 | Spanish 2,474 | German 50 | French 4 | — | — | — | 18,676 | |
| Jasper County | 3,257 | Spanish 3,009 | Tagalog / Filipino 84 | Chinese 44 | Other / unspecified 36 | German 22 | Japanese 21 | 24,847 | |
| Beaufort County | 20,400 | Spanish 15,341 | German 634 | French 633 | Other Indo-European 437 | Chinese 411 | Portuguese 364 | 161,178 | |
| Greenville County | 49,483 | Spanish 34,133 | German 1,639 | Chinese 1,547 | French 1,509 | Vietnamese 1,133 | Arabic 1,045 | 443,754 | |
| Spartanburg County | 26,724 | Spanish 14,991 | Russian 1,722 | Other Slavic 1,719 | German 1,003 | Hmong 998 | Mon-Khmer / Cambodian 910 | 272,708 | |
| Newberry County | 2,948 | Spanish 2,517 | Other Asian 168 | Serbo-Croatian 81 | French 62 | German 39 | Greek 35 | 35,399 | |
| Richland County | 29,602 | Spanish 14,094 | Korean 1,738 | Chinese 1,648 | German 1,609 | French 1,176 | African languages 941 | 374,012 | |
| Berkeley County | 14,000 | Spanish 8,404 | Tagalog / Filipino 1,765 | Portuguese 635 | Chinese 530 | Vietnamese 464 | French 341 | 180,120 | |
| Horry County | 21,560 | Spanish 13,353 | French 994 | Chinese 926 | Portuguese 832 | German 596 | Other Indo-European 545 | 275,175 | |
| Lexington County | 18,671 | Spanish 12,446 | Chinese 1,001 | Gujarati 717 | German 703 | French 624 | Vietnamese 345 | 256,816 | |
| Charleston County | 23,962 | Spanish 14,395 | Chinese 1,566 | French 1,395 | German 1,012 | Arabic 580 | Tagalog / Filipino 558 | 349,832 | |
| Dorchester County | 9,095 | Spanish 5,006 | German 560 | Tagalog / Filipino 538 | French 447 | Korean 366 | Chinese 318 | 136,105 | |
| York County | 15,101 | Spanish 9,281 | German 713 | Vietnamese 624 | Gujarati 576 | Chinese 491 | French 458 | 224,699 | |
| Greenwood County | 4,296 | Spanish 3,311 | Japanese 182 | Vietnamese 129 | Urdu 116 | Greek 89 | Other Slavic 86 | 65,165 | |
| Edgefield County | 1,483 | Spanish 1,336 | Italian 54 | Chinese 30 | German 21 | Tagalog / Filipino 17 | Other Native North American 15 | 25,329 | |
| Aiken County | 8,643 | Spanish 6,272 | German 626 | Tagalog / Filipino 260 | French 224 | Italian 143 | Russian 119 | 154,327 | |
| Lancaster County | 4,116 | Spanish 2,939 | Gujarati 261 | French Creole 189 | German 172 | French 133 | Tagalog / Filipino 73 | 76,438 | |
| Sumter County | 5,176 | Spanish 3,067 | Tagalog / Filipino 523 | French 298 | German 298 | Korean 146 | Vietnamese 106 | 100,151 | |
| Oconee County | 3,642 | Spanish 2,576 | Chinese 227 | German 195 | French 104 | Gujarati 79 | Greek 72 | 70,923 | |
| Pickens County | 5,315 | Spanish 2,752 | Chinese 470 | Arabic 181 | Hindi 174 | French 159 | Other Slavic 150 | 114,045 | |
| Laurens County | 2,856 | Spanish 2,373 | German 146 | Gujarati 51 | Italian 38 | Korean 36 | Japanese 29 | 62,396 | |
| Kershaw County | 2,416 | Spanish 1,654 | German 178 | French 165 | Vietnamese 72 | Korean 65 | Other Asian 49 | 58,872 | |
| Dillon County | 1,176 | Spanish 620 | African languages 384 | Other Native North American 45 | German 41 | French 31 | Hebrew 23 | 29,241 | |
| Marlboro County | 1,011 | Spanish 811 | Gujarati 89 | French 37 | Arabic 22 | German 10 | Navajo 9 | 26,496 | |
| Anderson County | 6,582 | Spanish 3,939 | Other Indic 490 | German 329 | Gujarati 221 | French 198 | Russian 151 | 179,655 | |
| Cherokee County | 1,959 | Spanish 1,580 | Gujarati 106 | Laotian 53 | German 44 | French 37 | Japanese 31 | 52,353 | |
| Florence County | 4,829 | Spanish 2,859 | Tagalog / Filipino 270 | Gujarati 229 | French 227 | German 185 | Chinese 183 | 129,276 | |
| Colleton County | 1,273 | Spanish 964 | Other Pacific Island 163 | French 43 | German 31 | Italian 21 | African languages 21 | 35,654 | |
| Georgetown County | 2,084 | Spanish 1,493 | French 110 | German 99 | Vietnamese 96 | Italian 54 | Japanese 45 | 57,521 | |
| Hampton County | 698 | Spanish 580 | Italian 32 | German 31 | Russian 15 | Other / unspecified 9 | French 8 | 19,323 | |
| Calhoun County | 475 | Spanish 406 | Russian 40 | French 21 | Urdu 5 | African languages 2 | Italian 1 | 14,164 | |
| Chesterfield County | 1,486 | Spanish 1,241 | Tagalog / Filipino 76 | German 59 | Arabic 43 | Vietnamese 24 | Chinese 21 | 43,475 | |
| Fairfield County | 754 | Spanish 506 | Other Slavic 51 | French 47 | Scandinavian 47 | Hindi 36 | German 31 | 21,936 | |
| Orangeburg County | 2,903 | Spanish 1,534 | Gujarati 340 | Hindi 173 | French 132 | African languages 110 | German 100 | 84,913 | |
| Barnwell County | 659 | Spanish 460 | Gujarati 69 | French 49 | Urdu 35 | Mon-Khmer / Cambodian 35 | German 9 | 20,599 | |
| Clarendon County | 1,025 | Spanish 828 | French 71 | German 49 | Russian 28 | Gujarati 16 | Portuguese 10 | 32,396 | |
| Marion County | 972 | Spanish 698 | Chinese 63 | Greek 42 | Portuguese 29 | German 28 | Thai 26 | 30,092 | |
| McCormick County | 271 | Spanish 162 | German 30 | Arabic 20 | French 14 | Other West Germanic 14 | Other Pacific Island 13 | 9,616 | |
| Abbeville County | 595 | Spanish 165 | Russian 139 | Other West Germanic 118 | German 106 | Other Slavic 53 | French Creole 7 | 23,573 | |
| Williamsburg County | 771 | Spanish 545 | French 78 | Italian 38 | Arabic 28 | Mon-Khmer / Cambodian 23 | Other West Germanic 18 | 31,413 | |
| Allendale County | 220 | Spanish 220 | — | — | — | — | — | 9,299 | |
| Darlington County | 1,560 | Spanish 965 | Hindi 142 | German 134 | French 84 | Chinese 53 | Arabic 48 | 63,893 | |
| Lee County | 384 | Spanish 308 | German 19 | Portuguese 17 | Japanese 16 | French 15 | Other West Germanic 9 | 17,395 | |
| Bamberg County | 279 | Spanish 163 | Arabic 32 | German 23 | Hindi 20 | Japanese 14 | Korean 11 | 14,622 | |
| Chester County | 497 | Spanish 441 | French 15 | Hebrew 10 | Arabic 8 | Tagalog / Filipino 7 | German 6 | 30,534 | |
| Union County | 277 | Spanish 146 | German 36 | Other Indo-European 32 | French Creole 27 | French 18 | Portuguese 10 | 26,589 |
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.