Do Spanish-speaking customers call your business, and what do they hear?
Georgia has close to a million Spanish speakers. If your phone only works in English, you may never know who hung up.
Very likely yes. About 972,000 Georgians spoke Spanish at home in 2024, and in metro Atlanta people of Mexican origin alone number 311,097. Whether they stay on the line depends on what they hear when you answer.
Many owners can tell you how many calls they missed last week. Few can tell you how many callers hung up because the person on the line struggled to understand them. That second number is usually invisible.
How many Spanish speakers are there in Georgia?
USAFacts, reporting American Community Survey data, put Georgia's 2024 figure at about 1.72 million people age 5 and older who spoke a language other than English at home. That is 16.3% of that age group, compared with 23% nationally. Spanish was the most common of those languages, spoken by about 972,000 people, or 56.5% of non-English speakers in the state.1
What about metro Atlanta?
The Atlanta Regional Commission, using 2023 American Community Survey five-year estimates for its 11-county region, counted 311,097 people of Mexican origin, which is 47.0% of the region's Hispanic residents. The top five origin groups, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Guatemalan, Salvadoran and Colombian, add up to about 483,000 people, or 73% of the region's Hispanic population.2
The mix matters for a practical reason. Metro Atlanta's Spanish speakers come from many countries, so vocabulary and accent vary. A phone service that can handle everyday Spanish cleanly beats one that knows three scripted phrases.
Are they customers or just neighbors?
They are customers, and also business owners. The University of Georgia Small Business Development Center, citing the U.S. SBA, reports that 10.4% of Georgia businesses are Hispanic-owned, against 16.5% nationally.4 Hispanic-owned shops, contractors and restaurants are buying services and calling vendors too, and so are the households and workers around them.
How well do Spanish speakers speak English?
It varies a lot, and that is the point. Nationally, the Census Bureau found in 2019 that 67.8 million people spoke a language other than English at home, and 62% of them spoke Spanish. Of the Spanish speakers, 39% spoke English less than very well.3 That is a 2019 national figure, not a Georgia one, but it shows why a business cannot assume that every caller who speaks Spanish at home is comfortable explaining a leaking pipe or a brake noise in English.
Many callers are fluent in both languages and will use whichever feels easier for a stressful problem. A bilingual person describing an emergency may well switch to Spanish.
What do Spanish-speaking callers hear right now?
Call your own business from a phone the way a customer would, ideally in the evening or on a weekend when a real customer is most likely to call, and note what happens:
- Does anyone answer, or does it go to voicemail?
- If the greeting is English only, does it offer another way?
- Does the person who answers have to say "one moment" and hand off to someone else?
- Can a caller leave details, or book, without a long back and forth?
The honest answer for many shops is that Spanish-speaking callers get an English greeting and voicemail, and then they try the next name on the list.
What does it take to serve them?
- Someone who answers in Spanish as readily as English, every day and after hours, in your business's name.
- Your services, prices and hours available in both languages, so the answers match.
- Text confirmations and appointment details sent in the language the customer used.
- A website and Google Business Profile that mention Spanish, so people know it is an option before they call.
You do not need to hire a bilingual full-time receptionist to do this, but you do need a plan. A part-time hire, an answering partner or a service built for both languages can all work. What does not work is hoping the caller's English is good enough.
How do you know what you are missing?
Check your call log for short calls, hang-ups and repeat calls from the same number. Ask your Spanish-speaking customers how they found you and whether the first call was easy. Then test your phone yourself, in both languages, at night.
B&G Solutions answers phones 24/7 in a small business's name, in English and Spanish, and books jobs into the owner's calendar or booking app, so a call at 9 p.m. in either language ends with an appointment instead of a voicemail.
Common questions
How many people in Georgia speak Spanish at home?
About 972,000 people age 5 and older spoke Spanish at home in Georgia in 2024, according to American Community Survey figures reported by USAFacts. That is 56.5% of the state's non-English speakers.
Are there many Hispanic residents in metro Atlanta?
Yes. The Atlanta Regional Commission counted 311,097 people of Mexican origin in its 11-county region in 2023 estimates, 47.0% of the region's Hispanic residents.
Do Spanish speakers in the U.S. also speak English?
Many do. In 2019, the Census Bureau found 39% of Spanish speakers nationally spoke English less than very well, so a large share spoke it well.
Should my business answer the phone in Spanish?
If your customers include Spanish speakers, yes. A caller in a stressful moment tends to use the language they are most comfortable in.
What is the simplest first step?
Call your own number after hours and listen to what a caller hears. Then decide how to cover Spanish, whether through staff or a service.
Sources
- USAFacts, How many people speak a language other than English at home? (Georgia) (2026)
- Atlanta Regional Commission (33n), Shaping the Region: Hispanic Growth in Metro Atlanta (2025)
- U.S. Census Bureau, Languages We Speak in the United States (2022)
- University of Georgia Small Business Development Center, Small Business and Its Impact on Georgia (2026 edition) (2026)
