About this application: This application provides summary profiles showing frequently requested data items from various US Census Bureau programs. Profiles are available for the nation, states, and counties.
Language other than English spoken at home, percent of persons age 5 years+, 2014-2018 - (Percent)
County
Value
Aleutians East Borough
38.8
Aleutians West Census Area
56.2
Anchorage Municipality
17.7
Bethel Census Area
62.3
Bristol Bay Borough
5.0
Denali Borough
15.8
Dillingham Census Area
38.5
Fairbanks North Star Borough
10.1
Haines Borough
11.1
Juneau City and Borough
12.8
Kenai Peninsula Borough
7.9
Ketchikan Gateway Borough
10.5
Kodiak Island Borough
25.9
Lake and Peninsula Borough
11.9
Nome Census Area
31.4
North Slope Borough
32.7
Northwest Arctic Borough
37.6
Sitka City and Borough
11.7
Skagway Municipality
9.5
Southeast Fairbanks Census Area
20.6
Wrangell City and Borough
6.0
Yakutat City and Borough
14.5
Value for Alaska (Percent): 16.2%
Data item: Language other than English spoken at home, percent of persons age 5 years+, 2014-2018
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) and Puerto Rico Community Survey (PRCS), 5-Year Estimates. The PRCS is part of the Census Bureau's ACS, customized for Puerto Rico. Both Surveys are updated every year.
Definition
Persons were asked to report whether they sometimes or always spoke a language other than English at home. People who knew languages other than English but did not use them at home, who only used them elsewhere, or whose usage was limited to a few expressions or slang were excluded.
Tabulations of language spoken at home include only the responses of persons 5 years old and over. The percentage shown is obtained by dividing the number of persons speaking a language other than English at home by the total number of persons 5 years and over. For the complete definition, go to ACS subject definitions "Language Spoken at Home."
Source and Accuracy
This Fact is based on data collected in the American Community Survey (ACS) and the Puerto Rico Community Survey (PRCS) conducted annually by the U.S. Census Bureau. A sample of over 3.5 million housing unit addresses is interviewed each year over a 12 month period. This Fact (estimate) is based on five years of ACS and PRCS sample data and describes the average value of person, household and housing unit characteristics over this period of collection.
Statistics from all surveys are subject to sampling and nonsampling error. Sampling error is the uncertainty between an estimate based on a sample and the corresponding value that would be obtained if the estimate were based on the entire population (as from a census). Measures of sampling error are provided in the form of margins of error for all estimates included with ACS and PRCS published products. The Census Bureau recommends that data users incorporate this information into their analyses, as sampling error in survey estimates could impact the conclusions drawn from the results. The data for each geographic area are presented together with margins of error at Using margins of error. A more detailed explanation of margins of error and a demonstration of how to use them is provided below.
For more information on sampling and estimation methodology, confidentiality, and sampling and nonsampling errors, please see the Multiyear Accuracy (US) and the Multiyear Accuracy (Puerto Rico) documents at "Documentation - Accuracy of the data."
Margin of Error
As mentioned above, ACS estimates are based on a sample and are subject to sampling error. The margin of error measures the degree of uncertainty caused by sampling error. The margin of error is used with an ACS estimate to construct a confidence interval about the estimate. The interval is formed by adding the margin of error to the estimate (the upper bound) and subtracting the margin of error from the estimate (the lower bound). It is expected with 90 percent confidence that the interval will contain the full population value of the estimate. The following example is for demonstrating purposes only. Suppose the ACS reported that the percentage of people in a state who were 25 years and older with a bachelor's degree was 21.3 percent and that the margin of error associated with this estimate was 0.7 percent. By adding and subtracting the margin of error from the estimate, we calculate the 90-percent confidence interval for this estimate:
Therefore, we can be 90 percent confident that the percent of the population 25 years and older having a bachelor's degree in a state falls somewhere between 20.6 percent and 22.0 percent.
