Demographics

Mapped: Racial Diversity by U.S. State

Published

11 months ago

January 19, 2024

Marcus Lu

Article/Editing:

Dorothy Neufeld

Graphics/Design:

Miranda Smith

See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.

The Most Diverse States in the U.S.

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As of 2020, there was a 61.1% likelihood that two people chosen at random will be from different ethnicities in America.

This number comes from the Census Bureau’s Diversity Index, which ranges from 0% to 100% per jurisdiction. A value closer to 0% means that a population is more homogenous, while 100% means that a population has more racial diversity.

This graphic maps the most diverse states in the U.S., based on the most recently available data.

Racial Diversity Across U.S. States

Below, we rank states based on their Diversity Index score in 2020. Each score represents the probability that two people chosen at random will be of different racial or ethnic backgrounds:

Rank	State	Diversity Index (%)
1	Hawaii	76.0
2	California	69.7
3	Nevada	68.8
4	Maryland	67.3
5	Washington, D.C.	67.2
6	Texas	67.0
7	New Jersey	65.8
8	New York	65.8
9	Georgia	64.1
10	Florida	64.1
11	New Mexico	63
12	Alaska	62.8
13	Arizona	61.5
14	Virginia	60.5
15	Illinois	60.3
16	Delaware	59.6
17	Oklahoma	59.5
18	Louisiana	58.6
19	North Carolina	57.9
20	Washington	55.9
21	Mississippi	55.9
22	Connecticut	55.7
23	South Carolina	54.6
24	Alabama	53.1
25	Colorado	52.3
26	Massachusetts	51.6
27	Arkansas	49.8
28	Rhode Island	49.4
29	Tennessee	46.6
30	Oregon	46.1
31	Kansas	45.4
32	Michigan	45.2
33	Pennsylvania	44
34	Indiana	41.3
35	Nebraska	40.8
36	Missouri	40.8
37	Utah	40.7
38	Minnesota	40.5
39	Ohio	40.4
40	Wisconsin	37
41	Idaho	35.9
42	South Dakota	35.6
43	Kentucky	32.8
44	North Dakota	32.6
45	Wyoming	32.4
46	Iowa	30.8
47	Montana	30.1
48	New Hampshire	23.6
49	Vermont	20.2
50	West Virginia	20.2
51	Maine	18.5

In Hawaii, the most diverse U.S. state, 44% of marriages are interracial. Overall, the Hawaiian population is 36.5% Asian, 21.5% white, 10.2% Native Hawaiian or Pacific, and 9.5% Latino or Hispanic.

Meanwhile, California ranks as the second most-diverse state in the country. As the largest ethnic population in the state, Hispanics and Latinos make up 39.4% of residents, followed by 34.7% white, and 15.1% Asian.

In terms of counties, the Aleutians East Borough in Alaska is the most diverse in the country. The least diverse state is Maine, and it also ranks as the oldest state in the country by median age.

Diversity in America, meanwhile, has increased roughly 6% according to the Diversity Index since 2010.