Using data from the American Community Survey, Business Insider mapped out the most common language spoken in each NYC neighborhood that isn’t English. And an even more fun map of the most common language when it isn’t English or Spanish. The boundaries are based on the Census’ “Public Use Microdata Areas,” which coincide closely, but not exactly to the city’s community board districts.
According to Business Insider, for the survey, “respondents are asked if they speak a language other than English at home, and if so, what language is spoken.” We particularly love the stronghold of French on the East side from 14th Street to 57th Street and French Creole in Brooklyn. The bastions of Chinese in the areas around Flushing and southern Brooklyn, along with the Russian in the Brighton Beach and Coney Island areas aren’t too surprising.
But with the top map which excludes Spanish as well, you start to see the real underlying diversity in New York City, which includes more expected languages like Yiddish, Arabic, Polish, Greek, Korean, Bengali and Italian, along with others like Mande (West Africa), Kru (Niger, Congo, Liberia), Ibo (Nigeria), Yoruba (Nigeria/Benin), Tagalog (Phillipines), and Amharic (Ethiopia). See more maps in our Fun Maps Column.
Michelle is the founder of Untapped New York and the author of The Art Spy (HarperOne, forthcoming) Secret Brooklyn, Secret New York Hidden Bars & Restaurants, and Broadway. michelleyoungwriter.com
