The 10 Most Diverse Cities In The United States For 2024


The most diverse cities in the United States are Oakland, CA and Jersey City, NJ for 2024 based on Saturday Night Science.

Most diverse cities in the United States summary. We used Saturday Night Science to dig into the most diverse cities in America for 2024. 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 tenth 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 (96.81% non-white).

  • The city with the largest white population is Boise City, ID (81.22% 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).

Most Diverse Cities In The United States Map


Table Of Contents: Table | Methodology | Summary


Most Diverse Cities In The United States


Related Research:
Best Places For Families By State
Cheapest States To Live In
Richest Cities In America


Table: Most Diverse Cities In America

Rank City Population HHI
1 Oakland, CA 437,825 2,285
2 Jersey City, NJ 287,899 2,320
3 Sacramento, CA 523,600 2,362
4 New York, NY 8,622,467 2,472
5 Chicago, IL 2,721,914 2,769
6 Arlington, TX 393,469 2,806
7 North Las Vegas, NV 264,022 2,851
8 Irving, TX 254,962 2,888
9 Boston, MA 665,945 2,889
10 Orlando, FL 307,738 2,907
11 Stockton, CA 320,030 2,909
12 San Francisco, CA 851,036 2,954
13 Philadelphia, PA 1,593,208 2,957
14 San Diego, CA 1,383,987 2,974
15 San Jose, CA 1,001,176 2,977
16 Garland, TX 244,026 2,979
17 Milwaukee, WI 573,299 2,980
18 Long Beach, CA 462,293 2,982
19 Aurora, CO 387,349 3,030
20 Fort Worth, TX 924,663 3,045
21 Las Vegas, NV 644,835 3,068
22 Charlotte, NC 875,045 3,069
23 Houston, TX 2,296,253 3,102
24 Tampa, FL 388,768 3,108
25 Dallas, TX 1,300,642 3,160
26 Durham, NC 284,094 3,163
27 Buffalo, NY 276,688 3,163
28 Plano, TX 284,948 3,241
29 Urban Honolulu, HI 348,547 3,271
30 St. Paul, MN 308,806 3,306
31 Los Angeles, CA 3,881,041 3,312
32 Winston-Salem, NC 249,571 3,358
33 Washington, DC 670,587 3,379
34 Santa Clarita, CA 225,850 3,383
35 Irvine, CA 304,527 3,390
36 Tulsa, OK 411,938 3,397
37 Oklahoma City, OK 681,088 3,411
38 Anchorage, AK 290,674 3,417
39 Greensboro, NC 297,202 3,423
40 Jacksonville, FL 950,203 3,424
41 Fresno, CA 541,528 3,427
42 Cleveland, OH 370,365 3,460
43 Austin, TX 958,202 3,467
44 Norfolk, VA 236,973 3,499
45 Newark, NJ 307,355 3,553
46 Glendale, AZ 248,083 3,605
47 Phoenix, AZ 1,609,456 3,618
48 Indianapolis, IN 882,006 3,658
49 Raleigh, NC 465,517 3,673
50 Chandler, AZ 275,618 3,686
51 Anaheim, CA 347,111 3,717
52 Richmond, VA 227,171 3,743
53 Columbus, OH 902,449 3,757
54 Bakersfield, CA 404,321 3,784
55 Atlanta, GA 494,838 3,796
56 Tucson, AZ 541,033 3,841
57 Denver, CO 710,800 3,854
58 Nashville, TN 684,103 3,860
59 Kansas City, MO 505,958 3,871
60 Albuquerque, NM 562,551 3,887
61 Riverside, CA 316,076 3,916
62 Lubbock, TX 258,190 3,917
63 St. Louis, MO 298,018 3,940
64 Chesapeake, VA 249,377 3,946
65 Cincinnati, OH 308,870 3,967
66 Arlington, VA 235,845 3,996
67 Henderson, NV 318,063 4,022
68 Toledo, OH 269,962 4,075
69 Virginia Beach, VA 457,900 4,081
70 Minneapolis, MN 426,877 4,093
71 Chula Vista, CA 276,103 4,136
72 Seattle, WA 734,603 4,171
73 Reno, NV 265,196 4,177
74 New Orleans, LA 380,408 4,211
75 Wichita, KS 395,951 4,246
76 Fremont, CA 228,795 4,301
77 Mesa, AZ 503,390 4,423
78 Baltimore, MD 584,548 4,460
79 St. Petersburg, FL 259,343 4,539
80 Fort Wayne, IN 264,514 4,564
81 Pittsburgh, PA 303,843 4,572
82 Louisville, KY 629,176 4,585
83 Omaha, NE 489,201 4,625
84 Memphis, TN 630,027 4,758
85 Colorado Springs, CO 479,612 4,805
86 Gilbert, AZ 267,267 4,885
87 San Antonio, TX 1,445,662 4,895
88 Portland, OR 646,101 4,903
89 Corpus Christi, TX 317,804 4,945
90 Lexington, KY 321,276 5,151
91 Madison, WI 268,516 5,319
92 Miami, FL 443,665 5,530
93 Santa Ana, CA 311,379 6,153
94 Detroit, MI 636,787 6,160
95 Lincoln, NE 290,531 6,205
96 Scottsdale, AZ 240,537 6,224
97 Spokane, WA 227,922 6,433
98 Boise City, ID 234,192 6,709
99 El Paso, TX 677,181 6,813
100 Laredo, TX 255,293 9,134

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 2018-2022 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
* Not 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 2,285 (Oakland, CA) to 9,134 (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 2024. This report is our tenth 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, New York, NY, Chicago, IL, Arlington, TX, North Las Vegas, NV, Irving, TX, Boston, MA, and Orlando, FL.

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:

Diverse Places By State

About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.