* Census Data: The US Census Bureau collects data on language spoken at home. However, it doesn't differentiate between primary and secondary languages.
* Varying Definitions: There's no universally agreed upon definition of "primary language." Some may consider it the language spoken most often at home, while others might define it as the language someone is most fluent in.
* Linguistic Diversity: Spanish in the US is not homogenous. There are different dialects and accents, making it hard to standardize definitions.
However, we can look at some relevant statistics:
* 2020 US Census: The most recent census data reported that 41.4 million people in the US speak Spanish at home. This represents 13.3% of the total US population.
* Estimates: Some estimates suggest that the number of Spanish speakers in the US could be higher than the census data indicates. This is because many people may not report speaking Spanish at home due to various reasons like language preference, cultural identity, or fear of discrimination.
Therefore, while an exact number is hard to pinpoint, it's safe to say that tens of millions of people in the US speak Spanish as their primary language.