Language diversity can indicate a growing bilingual or multilingual population, and it may also indicate a need for language instruction or bilingual services and communication.

In 2016-20, 34% of Westchester County residents spoke a language other than English at home, up from 28% in 2000. This is higher than both the state rate (30%), which increased 2 points since 2000, and the national rate (22%), up 4 points.

Port Chester, at 63%, had the most language diversity, followed by Sleepy Hollow at 60%. Compared to similar counties, Westchester County's language diversity rate was lower than Rockland (41%) but higher than Nassau (29%) and Putnam (20%). Rockland County had the highest increase of 11 percentage points from 2000 to 2016-20.

The multiyear figures are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The bureau combined 5 years of responses to the survey to provide estimates for smaller geographic areas and increase the precision of its estimates. However, because the information came from a survey, the samples responding to the survey were not always large enough to produce reliable results, especially in small geographic areas. CGR has noted on data tables the estimates with relatively large margins of error. Estimates with three asterisks have the largest margins, plus or minus 50% or more of the estimate. Two asterisks mean plus or minus 35%-50%, and one asterisk means plus or minus 20%-35%. For all estimates, the confidence level is 90%, meaning there is 90% probability the true value (if the whole population were surveyed) would be within the margin of error (or confidence interval). The survey provides data on characteristics of the population that used to be collected only during the decennial census. Data for this indicator are released annually in December.