There are five metropolitan areas in North America that have large Chinese speaking population: Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Toronto, and Vancouver. Each of them have different characteristics in terms of which immigrant group and which dialect is more prevalent. What will be shown is the actual number of population between those born in Mainland China/Hong Kong/Taiwan and the number of people who spoke Chinese at home with dialect breakdowns (I apologize that I do not have the dialect breakdowns for NYC). Anyways according to 2005 & 2006 datas respectively here are some statistical results:
Greater Los Angeles Metro
Chinese Languages:
Mandarin: 168,488
Cantonese: 160,485
Other Chinese Dialects: 55,263
Total Chinese Languages: 384,236
Place of Birth:
Mainland China: 154,708
Taiwan: 96,485
Hong Kong: 32,391
San Francisco Bay Area Metro
Chinese Languages:
Cantonese: 211,163
Mandarin: 128,617
Other Chinese Dialects: 93,681
Total Chinese Languages: 433,461
Place of Birth:
Mainland China: 209,118
Taiwan: 54,322
Hong Kong: 48,785
New York City Area Metro
Chinese Languages:
Cantonese: N/A
Mandarin: N/A
Other Chinese Dialects: N/A
Total Chinese Languages: 502,557
Place of Birth:
Mainland China: 321,320
Hong Kong: 48,268
Taiwan: 45,614
Greater Toronto Area
Chinese Languages:
Cantonese: 197,520
Mandarin: 120,035
Other Chinese Dialects: 18,005
Total Chinese Languages: 335,560
Place of Birth:
Mainland China: 191,120
Hong Kong: 103,090
Taiwan: 14,670
Greater Vancouver Area
Chinese Languages:
Cantonese: 140,177
Mandarin: 104,045
Other Chinese Dialects: 13,393
Total Chinese Languages: 257,615
Place of Birth:
Mainland China: 137,245
Hong Kong: 75,775
Taiwan: 40,805
Sources
2005 American Community Survey: Languages spoken at home for Greater Los Angeles Metro, San Francisco Bay Area Metro, New York City Area Metro.
2006 American Community Survey: Place of birth of foreign born population for Greater Los Angeles Metro, San Francisco Bay Area Metro, New York City Area Metro languages.
2006 LIDS: Languages spoken at home for Greater Toronto, Greater Vancouver
2006 Statistics Canada: Place of birth of foreign born population for Greather Toronto, Greater Vancouver
Summary
So as we can see above, there is a growth in the number of Chinese speakers compared to datas in the past. However there is also a change of the proportion of which dialect is spoken. In the past, Cantonese was the dominant language spoken in the major Chinese communities of North America. But over the past decade, the tide has turn with more and more Mandarin speakers immigrating to these places. For example in the Greater Los Angeles Metro, the total number people speaking Mandarin have surpassed the total number of people speaking Cantonese. In Greater Toronto, Greater Vancouver, and the San Francisco Bay Area metro the majority of Chinese speakers still speak Cantonese at home; however, the gap between Cantonese and Mandarin has narrowed compared to past datas.
Also as seen in the data, the number of immigrants coming from Mainland China has increased dramatically to each of these 5 metropolitan areas as show in the Place of birth of the foreign born Population compared to past datas. Among the five, New York City Area has the biggest Mainland China born population at 321,320.
Comments and opinions welcomed!