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Data · Spanish access

Spanish-speaking clients and the lawyers who speak Spanish

How many people who speak Spanish at home, and how many who speak English less than very well, there are for each lawyer who speaks Spanish at home, in the US, every state and every metro area. From the Census Bureau’s survey, with margins of error.

Checked October 25, 2026 · CC BY 4.0 · Not legal advice

What is in this dataset?

How many people who speak Spanish at home, and how many who speak English less than very well, there are for each lawyer who speaks Spanish at home: for the US, every state and DC, and every metro area. Computed from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (2020 to 2024 five-year tables and microdata), each figure with its 90% margin of error and a reliability flag; estimates too unreliable to publish are withheld. Aggregates only: no lawyer or firm is listed or ranked.

Use it to decide where Spanish-language marketing is worth the effort. Look up your state or metro: the record gives how many residents speak Spanish at home and speak English less than very well, how many lawyers and judges speak Spanish at home, and the ratio between them, each with its margin of error. Where the sample is too thin, the number is withheld rather than guessed. Pair it with your own intake: if Spanish callers already reach you, the gap in your area tells you how much more demand is waiting.

Records
3,512
Look up by
439
area (US, state or metro)
Primary source
2,069
Open or withheld
1,443

The letters are explained in what P, S, D and U mean.

What does a record look like?

The full records add the dates, the quoted source text and every field in the CSV and JSON files below.

How to cite this dataset

You can reuse, adapt and republish this data, including commercially, under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY 4.0). The only condition is that you credit Probative and link to the source.

Version
1.1.0, released October 26, 2026
Every version
10.5281/zenodo.23656757 (always points to the newest)
License
CC BY 4.0

Download the data

Free, no email or login. The files are hosted on this site and Zenodo, a public research archive.

Suggested citation

Probative. (2026). Spanish-speaking demand vs Spanish-speaking lawyer supply, by state and metro (Version 1.1.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23656758

Credit line for a chart, table or article

Source: Probative, Spanish-speaking demand vs Spanish-speaking lawyer supply, by state and metro, version 1.1.0, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23656758, licensed CC BY 4.0.

Not legal advice. This is a plain-English summary of public sources, kept for marketing planning. These are survey estimates with margins of error.

How do I use it in my own tools?

Ask an AI assistant: add https://probativegrowth.com/mcp/language as an MCP connector (no sign-in), or the main server https://probativegrowth.com/mcp for every dataset. Setup for each app is on the API and MCP page.

language_lookup
For one area (US, a two-letter state code, or a metro's 5-digit CBSA code such as 19100 for Dallas-Fort Worth): Spanish speakers, those with limited English, lawyers, Spanish-speaking lawyers and the ratios, each with its margin of error and reliability.
language_compare
The same measures side by side for up to 10 areas (US, state codes or metro CBSA codes).
language_search
Records whose text matches the words given, such as a metro or state name ("Houston", "New Jersey") plus a measure ("limited English per Spanish-speaking lawyer").

Or read the static files, with no key and no usage cap:

What are the limits?

  • These are survey estimates, not counts. Always quote the margin of error; estimates too unreliable to publish are withheld (status U).
  • “Speaks Spanish at home” is not the same as being able to practice law in Spanish, so the lawyer figures are a rough guide.
  • The Census occupation code for lawyers also includes judges and some judicial workers.
  • Metro figures marked approximate are built from survey areas that do not line up exactly with the metro’s borders.
  • Aggregates only. The data never lists or ranks individual lawyers or firms.
  • Records older than 400 days since their last check are marked stale in the files until we re-check them, and we say on this page when we fix a confirmed error.

Other open datasets: Legal-marketing ethics opinions, 2015 to 2026 (data), Ad-platform policies for law firms: tracker data, California court filings by county, by case type (data). The full list is in the data catalog.

Running a firm? You don’t need the raw data: we handle your state’s ad rules for you. See where your firm stands first.

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