• The share of linguistically isolated households increased slightly between 2000 and 2010 and dropped slightly between 2010 and 2020 in the nine-county Bay Area and statewide.
• The region has a slightly lower share of linguistically isolated households compared to the share statewide.
• Households speaking Asian or Pacific Islander languages are most likely to be linguistically isolated regionwide, and households speaking Indo-European languages are least likely.
• San Francisco County has the highest share of linguistically isolated households in the region (11 percent) and Marin County has the lowest share (4 percent).

Nearly one in 10 households in the Bay Area does not speak English well or at all. These linguistically isolated households largely speak Asian languages or Spanish, as Asian Americans and Latinx residents have been central to the region’s population growth in recent decades. Linguistic isolation can compound many of the financial and cultural challenges that immigrant workers and families face, as residents with limited English proficiency might struggle to receive adequate health care, access public support systems, navigate job and rental markets, and build toward financial stability. Many linguistically isolated immigrants also have limited formal education, which can complicate efforts to make a decent living and acculturate to the US. Children with limited English proficiency tend to struggle with academic achievement relative to their peers.

• Include linguistically isolated households by ensuring access to transit.
• Implement comprehensive language access policies.
• Improve access to publicly funded social services such as state child care subsidies.
• Enforce existing language access laws in health care settings.
• Ensure that public agencies comply with local language access ordinances and policies, and establish https://sf.gov/data/language-access-ordinance-compliance-datasystems of accountability for ongoing compliance.
• Strengthen partnerships between local governments and community-based organizations that serve and support harder-to-reach language communities.

• Organizations: California Immigrant Policy Center; East Bay Sanctuary Covenant; Mujeres Unidas y Activas
• Reports: Language Access: Translation and Interpretation Policies and Practices; Welcoming San José: Plan for Civic, Economic, Linguistic, and Social Integration 2021-2024; San Francisco’s Language Access Policy; Language Isolation Affects the Health of Mexican Americans; Ethnicity and Sociolinguistic Variation in San Francisco
• Data: kidsdata.org; Kids Count Data Center; AAPI Data