The United States does not have an official language, but English is spoken by about 82% of the population as a native language, with a majority of English speakers being monolingual. The variety of English spoken in the United States is known as American English; together with Canadian English it makes up the group of dialects known as North American English. 96% of the population of the U.S. speaks English "well" or "very well". There have been several proposals to make English the national language in amendments to immigration reform bills. None of these bills have become law with the amendment intact.

The Spanish language is the second-most common language in the country, spoken by almost 30 million people (or 13% of the population) in 2005. Approximately 337 languages are spoken or signed by the population, of which 176 are indigenous to the area. 52 languages formerly spoken in the country's territory are now extinct.