The 10 Most Diverse Cities In The United States For 2026

Most diverse cities in the United States summary. We used Saturday Night Science to dig into the most diverse cities in America for 2026. The data comes from the American Community Survey’s latest cohort. You can read the Census documentation for a breakdown of the nationalities in each race bucket. This report reflects our eleventh time ranking the most diverse cities in the United States.

• The most diverse city in the United States is Oakland, CA, based on Census data.

• The least diverse city in the United States is Laredo, TX, based on Census data.

• The city with the highest non-white population is Laredo, TX (96.55% non-white).

• The city with the largest white population is Boise City, ID (79.54% white).

• The most diverse state in America is Hawaii.

We limited our analysis to the 100 biggest cities in America and defined diverse to be the cities with the lowest Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI).

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Table Of Contents: Table | Methodology | Summary

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Table: Most Diverse Cities In America

Methodology: How We Determined The Most Diverse Cities in The US

We decided to look at racial diversity across the United States using the most recently available data — the 2020-2024 American Community Survey data from the US Census. Specifically, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze table B03002: HISPANIC OR LATINO ORIGIN BY RACE. Here are the actual categories as defined by the Census:

• White alone*
• Black or African American alone*
• American Indian and Alaska Native alone*
• Asian alone*
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone*
• Some other race alone*
• Two or more races*
• Hispanic or Latino

We limited our analysis to the 100 biggest cities in the United States.

We then calculated the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) for each city using the criteria above. This type of analysis defines diversity as having many racial groups of about equal size. It does not define diversity as having a high percentage of non-white population.

Creating the HHI index left us with scores ranging from 2,273 (Oakland, CA) to 9,050 (Laredo, TX).

Finally, we ranked each city based on the HHI, with a lower score being more diverse than a high score. Oakland, CA took the distinction of being the most diverse, while Laredo, TX was the least diverse city.

We updated this article for 2026. This report is our eleventh time ranking the cities in America with the most diversity.

Summary: The Most Diverse Big Cities In America

The most diverse cities in the United States are Oakland, CA, Jersey City, NJ, Sacramento, CA, Enterprise, NV, New York, NY, Chicago, IL, Arlington, TX, Orlando, FL, North Las Vegas, NV, and Boston, MA.

Based on recent trends, the West, particularly California, might continue to dominate this list for decades. The rest of the country would need to attract a larger pool of Asian residents to make them more racially diverse.

But until then, we’ll keep seeing California cities atop the list.

And for those playing at home, here’s a look at the least diverse cities in the United States:

1. Laredo, TX
2. El Paso, TX
3. Boise City, ID

For more reading, check out:

• Cheapest Cities To Live In America
• Best Places To Live In America