See Where Phoenix Ranks Among Most Bilingual Big U.S. Cities

PHOENIX, AZ —In a recent study, Phoenix ranked 8th on a list of the most bilingual big cities in the U.S. The study was conducted by Preply, a language learning app.

According to the data, 24.29 percent of Phoenix's population is bilingual. Phoenix ranks just behind No. 7 San Diego (25.52 percent) and ahead of No. 9 San Francisco (23.33 percent).

El Paso, Texas (39.44 percent) tops the list, followed by No. 2 Los Angeles (33.46) and No. 3 San Jose, California (32.93 percent).

To determine the list, Preply analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2019 American Community Survey's social and demographic characteristics tables for each city.

According to Preply, 1 in 5 Americans speaks a language other than English at home. Meanwhile, 43 percent of the world's population is bilingual.

"There are many benefits to being bilingual. It leads to improved memory and attention spans. Bilingual speakers are also better listeners because they can decode sounds and pick out relevant parts of speech," the authors of the Preply study wrote. "And there's evidence that bilingualism can spark greater creativity, as well."

Based on the data, the least bilingual big U.S. cities are: No. 1 Detroit (6.34 percent), No. 2 Indianapolis (7.45 percent) and No. 3 Nashville (8.13 percent).

"With the nation growing more bilingual and the demand for bilingual employees and services increasing, the advantages of speaking more than one language are apparent," the authors of the study wrote. "Knowing Spanish can be particularly helpful, given that it's the No. 2 language in most big cities — even those without a large Hispanic population."