The US has become more diverse over the past few years – but that doesn’t just mean “less white.”
The Census Bureau uses the Diversity Index, which measures the probability that two people selected at random will be from different racial and ethnic groups. Based on this, each locale is given a score between 0% and 100%, where 0% indicates similar racial and ethnic backgrounds, and 100% indicates completely different racial backgrounds.
How has diversity in the US changed since 2020?
Every state became more diverse between 2020 and 2023. In other words, the likelihood of two randomly selected people having different racial and ethnic backgrounds increased nationwide.
The states with the biggest increases in their Diversity Index (DI) scores were Washington (up 2.4 percentage points), Massachusetts and Oregon (up 2.0), and Iowa, Minnesota, Rhode Island (up 1.9).
The states with the least change were New Mexico, with a DI score increase of just 0.03 percentage points), Hawaii (0.1), California (0.2), and South Carolina (0.4).
Hawaii and California were among the states with the least change but had the two highest DI scores overall in 2023, with 76.1%, and 69.0% respectively. Other states with high DI scores in 2023 included Nevada (68.4%), Texas (66.5%), and Maryland (66.4%).
States with the lowest DI scores in 2023 were Maine (15.6%), Vermont (16.2%), West Virginia (17.1%), New Hampshire (21.2%), and Montana (26.9%).
How do the proportions of racial and ethnic groups vary by state?
A state’s high DI score tells us about diversity overall but not about the specific racial and ethnic breakdown of that state, which can vary widely among states.
Hawaii had the highest DI score in 2023, and its largest racial groups were Asian (36.2%), white (21.5%), two or more races (20.4%), Hispanic (10.1%), and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander (9.6%). By contrast, the largest racial groups in California, which had the second highest DI score in 2023, were Hispanic (40.4%), white (34.3%), Asian (15.8%), and Black or African American (5.6%).
Maine was the least diverse, with 91.8% of residents identifying as white and the remaining 8.2% spread across all other racial and ethnic groups.
Which counties are the most racially diverse?
Coastal counties and those along the Mexican border remained the most racially diverse in 2023 compared to the Midwest, Appalachia, and parts of New England.
Four of the top 10 most diverse counties are in Hawaii: Hawaii County (77.7%), Maui County (76.8%), Kauai County (76.5%), and Kalawao County (76.2%). Hawaii had the highest Diversity Index in 2023.
The other counties with the highest DI scores were the Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska (76.3%); Fort Bend County, Texas (75.8%); Queens County, New York (75.6%); Solano County, California (75.0%); Gwinnett County, Georgia (74.6%); and Alameda County, California (74.2%).
The lowest-scoring counties were in Magoffin County, Kentucky (4.8%); Holmes County, Ohio (5.0%); McPherson County and Arthur Counties, Nebraska (5.1 and 5.2%); and Dickenson County, Virginia (5.3%).
How has diversity by county changed since 2020?
County-level DI scores reveal a more detailed picture — while diversity increased overall in every state, DI scores dropped in some counties between 2020 and 2023.
In California, Lassen County's DI score declined by 1.76 percentage points. Scores also fell in 18 other California counties during this period.
Most counties did have increases. Of the 3,144 counties nationwide, 31 went up by 5 percentage points or more. The majority had smaller increases; 2,894 counties had gains between 0 and 4.9.
The Diversity Index score in Loving County, Texas, increased the most of any county: it rose 12.4 percentage points.
The ten counties with the biggest increases were:
- Loving County, Texas (12.4 percentage point increase)
- Borden County, Texas (7.6)
- Hendricks County, Indiana (7.6)
- Hodgeman County, Kansas (7.5)
- Roberts County, Texas (7.3)
- Skagway Municipality, Alaska (6.8)
- Menominee County, Wisconsin (6.6)
- Denali Borough, Alaska (6.4)
- Kaufman County, Texas (6.3)
- Jackson County, Georgia (6.3)
Although four of the ten counties with largest DI score increases were in Texas, the Lone Star state was also home to six of the ten counties with the biggest drops.
The counties with the biggest decreases were:
- DeKalb County, Missouri (-7.7 percentage point decrease)
- Hudspeth County, Texas (-5.0)
- Seward County, Kansas (-2.8)
- Lafayette County, Florida (-2.8)
- Reeves County, Texas (-2.7)
- Ector County, Texas (-2.6)
- La Salle County, Texas (-2.6)
- Telfair County, Georgia (-2.3)
- Crane County, Texas (-2.2)
- Deaf Smith County, Texas (-2.1)
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Read data analyses written by the USAFacts team.
Page sources and methodology
All of the data on the page was sourced directly from government agencies. The analysis and final review was performed by USAFacts.
Census Bureau
State Population by Characteristics: 2020-2024
Census Bureau
County Population by Characteristics: 2020-2023
