There is Acute Need for AAPI Language Access in COVID-19 Hot Spots

There are approximately 3.6 million Limited English Proficient (LEP) Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) in the 30 metropolitan1 areas with the most confirmed COVID-19 cases.

The percentage of AAPIs who are LEP in the top 30 COVID-19 hot spots – where 33.0% of AAPIs aged 5 and up are LEP – is higher than for US AAPIs as a whole (31.4% LEP).

The COVID-19 Hot Spots with the largest populations of AAPI LEP speakers are as follows:

MSA # AAPI LEP Population age 5&up AAPI LEP % Top 5 AAPI Language Needs by LEP Population
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA MSA 779,050 37.8% 1. Chinese

2. Vietnamese

3. Korean

4. Tagalog

5. Japanese
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA MSA 778,614 36.9% 1. Chinese

2. Korean

3. Bengali

4. Tagalog

5. Urdu
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA MSA 366,887  30.6% 1. Chinese

2. Tagalog

3. Vietnamese

4. Korean

5. Hindi
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX MSA 170,874 32.8% 1. Vietnamese

2. Chinese

3. Urdu

4. Malayalam, Kannada, or other Dravidian languages

5. Tagalog
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI MSA 166,890  27.1% 1. Chinese

2. Tagalog

3. Korean

4. Gujarati

5. Vietnamese

Source: US Census, 2018 1-year ACS

1 As of 1/22/21, the 30 MSAs with the most confirmed COVID-19 cases are:  1. New York City, 2. Los Angeles, 3. Chicago, 4. Dallas, 5. Miami, 6. Riverside, 7. Phoenix, 8. Houston, 9. Atlanta, 10. Philadelphia, 11. DC, 12. Boston, 13. Twin Cities, 14. Detroit, 15. St. Louis, 16. San Diego, 17. Nashville, 18.  Las Vegas, 19. Denver, 20. San Francisco. 21. Charlotte, 22. Tampa, 23. San Antonio, 24. Indianapolis, 25. Orlando, 26. Cincinnati, 27. Milwaukee, 28. Columbus, 29. Kansas City, 30. Baltimore; per  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html.  NOTE: AAPI LEP data not available for Nashville, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Cincinnati