Language

Leading population centers
Rank	Core City	Metro area pop.	Metropolitan Statistical Area	Region	New York City Los Angeles
1	New York City	18,897,109	New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA MSA	Northeast
2	Los Angeles	12,828,837	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA MSA	West
3	Chicago	9,461,105	Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI MSA	Midwest
4	Dallas	6,371,773	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX MSA	South
5	Philadelphia	5,965,343	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA	Northeast
6	Houston	5,946,800	Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX MSA	South
7	Washington, D.C.	5,582,170	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA	South
8	Miami	5,564,635	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL MSA	South
9	Atlanta	5,268,860	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA MSA	South
10	Boston	4,552,402	Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH MSA	Northeast
based on the 2010 U.S. Census

Languages (2007)
English (only)	225.5 million
Spanish, incl.Creole	34.5 million
Chinese	2.5 million
French, incl. Creole	2.0 million
Tagalog	1.5 million
Vietnamese	1.2 million
German	1.1 million
Korean	1.1 million

English is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English. In 2007, about 226 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language. Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states. Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law.

While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French. Other states, such as California, mandate the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including court forms. Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by American Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico.