US customers generated 38% of Duolingo’s $1,037.6 million in revenue for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, down from 45% two years earlier. No company publishes language learning app installs by state, so regional demand has to be read through search volume and Census home-language data. This post covers what those measures show, drawn from Duolingo’s 10-K, Preply’s January 2026 analysis, and the 2024 American Community Survey.
Language Learning App Downloads By US Region: Key Numbers
US customers accounted for 38% of Duolingo’s total revenue in FY 2025, down from 45% in FY 2023.
New York leads at 265.9 monthly language learning searches per 100,000 residents.
Four of the ten highest-demand states sit in the Northeast. The Midwest places only Illinois.
44.9 million US residents aged 5 and over spoke Spanish at home in 2024, about one in seven.
Spanish home-speaker concentration runs from 28.8% in California to 1.2% in Maine.
Duolingo reported a 35% rise in Spanish learners on the night of February 8, 2026.
How Much Language Learning App Revenue Comes From The US?
Duolingo booked $1,037.6 million in total revenue for fiscal year 2025. Customers located in the United States accounted for 38% of that figure.
That share has fallen for two straight years. It sat at 42% in FY 2024 and 45% in FY 2023, based on where users are located or, for the Duolingo English Test, where tests are taken.
The company states that no other country accounted for more than 10% of revenue in any of those three years. The US is the only market large enough to disclose on its own, which makes this the clearest public read on American weight in the category. Fuller platform numbers sit in our breakdown of Duolingo user and revenue figures.
| Fiscal year | US share of total revenue |
|---|---|
| FY 2025 | 38% |
| FY 2024 | 42% |
| FY 2023 | 45% |
Source: Duolingo, Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, filed February 27, 2026. Figures are share of total revenue, not share of users or installs.
The same filing reports that the number of people learning a language on Duolingo in the US is greater than the number of K-12 students taking a foreign language class in school. Apple’s App Store processed 62% of FY 2025 revenue and Google Play 20%.
Language Learning App Downloads By US Region: Search Demand As A Proxy
No vendor publishes app installs by state. Preply’s January 2026 analysis of Google Ads Keyword Planner data is the closest public substitute, ranking states by monthly searches for language learning per 100,000 residents.
New York tops that ranking at 265.9. Illinois follows at 219.8 and California at 210.8.
Four of the ten highest-demand states are in the Northeast, a region holding a much smaller slice of the national population. The West takes three slots, the South two, and the Midwest one.
| Rank | State | Monthly searches per 100,000 | Census region |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York | 265.9 | Northeast |
| 2 | Illinois | 219.8 | Midwest |
| 3 | California | 210.8 | West |
| 4 | Massachusetts | 208.9 | Northeast |
| 5 | Colorado | 202.1 | West |
| 6 | Texas | 200.7 | South |
| 7 | Connecticut | 198.6 | Northeast |
| 8 | New Jersey | 196.1 | Northeast |
| 9 | Florida | 194.7 | South |
| 10 | Washington | 191.5 | West |
Source: Preply, “Bilingualism Statistics 2026,” updated January 29, 2026, using Google Ads Keyword Planner data. Measures search volume, not downloads or users.
Preply links Colorado and Washington to younger, mobile populations that value travel and international careers rather than heritage demand. For the wider state picture, see our data on bilingualism rates across US states.
Which States Have The Highest Spanish Speaker Density?
About 44.9 million US residents aged 5 and over spoke Spanish at home in 2024, roughly one in seven. More than half of them live in California, Texas, or Florida.
Concentration ranges from 28.8% in California down to 1.2% in Maine. Five states cross the 20% mark.
Nevada and New Mexico rank high on Spanish density but do not appear in Preply’s top ten for search demand. Massachusetts and Connecticut do the reverse. Home-language presence and language learning search volume are separate measures, and the two rankings only partly overlap.
| State | Share speaking Spanish at home | Census region |
|---|---|---|
| California | 28.8% | West |
| Texas | 28.2% | South |
| New Mexico | 24.8% | West |
| Florida | 23.4% | South |
| Nevada | 20.9% | West |
| Maine | 1.2% | Northeast |
Source: US Census Bureau American Community Survey 2024, via USAFacts. Population aged 5 and over. California is the highest state and Maine the lowest.
Spanish home speakers grew 21.3% between 2010 and 2024, against 11.2% growth in the total population aged 5 and over. Seven states plus Puerto Rico each held more than a million Spanish home speakers in 2024.
Metro Areas With The Most Spanish Speakers
Metro counts sharpen the regional read. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim recorded 4.25 million Spanish home speakers over 2019 to 2023, about 34.5% of residents aged 5 and over.
New York-Newark-Jersey City ranked second at 3.70 million, or 19.9%. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach came third at 2.48 million, and carried the highest share of the three at 42.7%.
| Metro area | Spanish home speakers |
|---|---|
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 4,247,369 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | 3,702,042 |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | 2,479,598 |
| Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX | 1,991,006 |
| San Juan-Bayamón-Caguas, PR | 1,886,626 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 1,602,394 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | 1,587,010 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | 1,518,236 |
Source: US Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023, via USAFacts. Population aged 5 and over. Puerto Rico is included in this metro ranking but excluded from the 44.9 million national total.
Language Learning App Downloads By US Region After Super Bowl LX
Bad Bunny headlined the Super Bowl LX halftime show on February 8, 2026, performing primarily in Spanish. Duolingo posted the next day that it had recorded a 35% increase in Spanish learners that night against normal levels.
Preply tracked the search side separately. Daily US searches for “learn Spanish” reached 43,000 on game day, 89% above typical volume, then climbed to 63,000 in the days after, up 178%.
Preply projects that up to 737,000 additional Americans could look for formal Spanish learning resources. The company describes this as a ratio-based estimate applying a 3x uplift to observed search behavior, not a measured count.
| Period | Daily “learn Spanish” searches | Change vs typical |
|---|---|---|
| Super Bowl Sunday, February 8, 2026 | 43,000 | +89% |
| Days following the performance | 63,000 | +178% |
Source: Preply, “Bad Bunny’s halftime show turned dance parties into Spanish lessons,” updated April 20, 2026, using Google Trends data via Glimpse. Search volume, not app installs.
The trend predates the game. Monthly searches for “Spanish class” have grown from around 30,000 in 2017 to over 245,000, per Preply data. Neither Duolingo nor Preply has published a regional breakdown of the February spike or figures on whether the lift held. Our language learning app statistics page covers the global download and revenue picture, and the online education market size data gives context on the wider spending environment.
What The Regional Data Cannot Show
Three separate measures appear above, and none of them counts installs. Revenue share tracks money, search rankings track intent, and Census figures track languages spoken at home.
They point in broadly similar directions without being interchangeable. States with large established Spanish-speaking communities and states with high education and travel spending both generate demand, but for different languages and different reasons. For related reading, see our data on the most learned foreign languages worldwide and on English language use and learning demand.
FAQ
Which US region downloads the most language learning apps?
No vendor publishes installs by region. Using search demand as a proxy, the Northeast holds four of the ten highest-demand states, the West three, the South two, and the Midwest one, per Preply’s January 2026 analysis.
Which state has the highest language learning demand?
New York, at 265.9 monthly language learning searches per 100,000 residents. Illinois follows at 219.8 and California at 210.8, based on Preply’s January 2026 review of Google Ads Keyword Planner data.
How much of Duolingo’s revenue comes from US users?
38% in fiscal year 2025, against total revenue of $1,037.6 million. That share was 42% in FY 2024 and 45% in FY 2023, per the company’s 10-K filed February 27, 2026.
Are Reddit threads a reliable source for state-level download numbers?
No. Reddit posts describe individual experience and no published study maps that discussion to state demand. The measured public signals remain Preply’s search rankings and Census home-language counts.
Which language do most American learners study, and what does Reddit get right about it?
Spanish. Reddit threads naming it the top US choice match Preply’s data, where Spanish is the most-studied language among North American learners. About 44.9 million US residents spoke Spanish at home in 2024.
Sources
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1562088/000162828026012494/duol-20251231.htm
https://preply.com/en/blog/bilingualism-statistics/
https://preply.com/en/blog/bad-bunny-s-halftime-show-turned-dance-parties-into-spanish-lessons/
https://usafacts.org/answers/how-many-people-speak-spanish-at-home/country/united-states/
