<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The Spanish language in the United States has forty - five million Hispanic and Latino Americans that speak Spanish as their first, second or heritage language, and there are six million Spanish language students in the United States, making it the second most spoken language of the United States . With over 50 million native speakers and second language speakers, the United States now has the second largest Spanish - speaking population in the world after Mexico, although it is not an official language of the country . Spanish is the most studied foreign language in United States schools and is spoken as a native tongue by 41 million people, plus an additional 11 million fluent second - language speakers . About half of all American Spanish speakers also assessed themselves as speaking English "very well" in the 2000 U.S. Census . The United States is among the Spanish - speaking countries that has its own Academy of the Spanish Language . </P> <P> There are more Spanish - speakers in the United States than speakers of French, German, Italian, Hawaiian, varieties of Chinese and Native American languages combined . According to the 2012 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, Spanish is the primary language spoken at home by 38.3 million people aged five or older, more than twice that of 1990 . </P>

What is the population of spanish speakers in the u.s