| Language and Ancestry, 1990 | |
| LANGUAGE SPOKEN AT HOME | |
| Persons 5 years and over | 936,423 |
| Speak a language other than English | 159,492 |
| Do not speak English "very well" | 65,927 |
| Speak Spanish | 35,492 |
| Do not speak English "very well" | 19,789 |
| Speak Asian or Pacific Island language | 12,756 |
| Do not speak English "very well" | 7,182 |
| NATIVITY AND PLACE OF BIRTH | |
| Total population | 1,003,464 |
| Native population | 908,376 |
| Percent born in state of residence | 70 |
| Foreign-born population | 95,088 |
| Entered the U.S. 1980 to 1990 | 35,079 |
| ANCESTRY | |
| Total Ancestries reported | 1,276,935 |
| Arab | 6,370 |
| Austrian | 2,710 |
| Belgian | 1,336 |
| Canadian | 5,459 |
| Czech | 1,927 |
| Danish | 1,978 |
| Dutch | 6,933 |
| English | 161,001 |
| Finnish | 1,562 |
| French (except Basque) | 134,177 |
| French Canadian | 72,843 |
| German | 73,482 |
| Greek | 6,208 |
| Hungarian | 2,902 |
| Irish | 213,801 |
| Italian | 199,190 |
| Lithuanian | 4,580 |
| Norwegian | 4,010 |
| Polish | 47,227 |
| Portuguese | 94,650 |
| Romanian | 1,102 |
| Russian | 12,412 |
| Scotch-Irish | 13,638 |
| Scottish | 24,144 |
| Slovak | 2,231 |
| Subsaharan African | 12,618 |
| Swedish | 22,373 |
| Swiss | 1,459 |
| Ukrainian | 3,530 |
| United States or American | 20,994 |
| Welsh | 3,253 |
| West Indian (excluding Hispanic origin groups) | 2,182 |
| Yugoslavian | 331 |
| Other ancestries | 114,322 |