The cities where Spanish is king

Spanish continues to gain ground in the United States. According to Census Bureau data, it is the second most spoken language in U.S. households, after English. According to recent data, nationwide, at least 57 million people speak Spanish.

Spanish is heard with increasing frequency throughout the United States and is also the most commonly chosen language by students to learn in schools. However, there are certain cities where it is more prevalent, due to the large number of Hispanics already living there or moving to start a new life.

Census data also showed that the states with the most Hispanic residents are Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico and Texas.

In Texas, the cities where Spanish rules

In the cities, the Hispanic accent is increasingly felt. For example, Laredo, located in southwest Texas, stands out as one of the cities with the highest percentage of Hispanic population in the United States, with more than 95% of its 257,602 inhabitants speaking Spanish.

Spanish is present in the daily life of the inhabitants of Laredo. A reflection of this is that a study by AcademiaLab indicated that at least five of the city's top seven newspapers write in Spanish.

"Bilingualism is common, and many residents, including Americans, are able to communicate in both languages, reflecting the strong influence of the Latino community in the region," explained Laredo's local newspaper El Mañana.

Similar are the data in McAllen, where more than 86% said they are Hispanic and 69% speak Spanish. In the case of El Paso (Texas), according to census data, more than 81% of its 678,958 are Hispanic and at least 63% of them use Spanish at home.

Meanwhile, in San Antonio, 64% of residents identify as Hispanic and 34.5% speak Spanish at home.

Other places where Spanish is present is in Miami (Florida) where more than 65.0% of the population speaks Spanish, which translates to approximately 285,000 people. But in Florida, one of the cities with the most Hispanic accents is in Hialeah, where 91% of residents speak Spanish.

States such as California also frequently hear Latino accents. In Los Angeles, at least 39% of people speak Spanish. In El Centro that figure rises to 74%.

According to Hispanic Council keeping Spanish in the home is important to Latinos. 7 out of 10 Hispanics use Spanish to communicate in the home environment. This shows that Spanish is a living language, used by Hispanics to maintain cultural ties and for professional advancement.

A fashionable language

These data show why Spanish has become fashionable in the United States. It is the country with the most students of Spanish in the world (8.6 million).

In comparative terms, Spanish is by far the most widely learned language in the nation's formal education: 76% of all foreign language students in elementary and secondary schools and 50% of university students study it.