The 10 Most Diverse Cities In The United States For 2023


The most diverse cities in the United States are Oakland, CA and Jersey City, NJ for 2023 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 2023. 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 (96.75% non-white).

  • The city with the largest white population is Boise City, ID (82.05% 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).


Table Of Contents: Table | Methodology | Summary


Most Diverse Cities In The United States


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Table: Most Diverse Cities In America

Rank City Population HHI
1 Oakland, CA 437,548 2,298
2 Jersey City, NJ 287,146 2,337
3 Sacramento, CA 518,605 2,354
4 New York, NY 8,736,047 2,506
5 Chicago, IL 2,742,119 2,798
6 Arlington, TX 392,304 2,858
7 North Las Vegas, NV 259,638 2,859
8 Irving, TX 254,184 2,886
9 Stockton, CA 317,818 2,902
10 Boston, MA 672,814 2,904
11 Orlando, FL 302,968 2,923
12 Garland, TX 245,075 2,951
13 San Jose, CA 1,013,337 2,971
14 San Francisco, CA 865,933 2,985
15 Long Beach, CA 466,565 2,998
16 San Diego, CA 1,385,398 3,006
17 Philadelphia, PA 1,596,865 3,013
18 Milwaukee, WI 578,198 3,021
19 Aurora, CO 383,496 3,049
20 Fort Worth, TX 908,469 3,078
21 Charlotte, NC 864,871 3,094
22 Houston, TX 2,293,288 3,103
23 Las Vegas, NV 634,786 3,120
24 Tampa, FL 380,476 3,133
25 Dallas, TX 1,300,239 3,158
26 Durham, NC 279,106 3,216
27 Buffalo, NY 276,011 3,243
28 Urban Honolulu, HI 351,554 3,288
29 St. Paul, MN 309,751 3,303
30 Plano, TX 282,181 3,306
31 Los Angeles, CA 3,902,440 3,345
32 Winston-Salem, NC 247,917 3,372
33 Irvine, CA 297,868 3,391
34 Fresno, CA 538,678 3,411
35 Tulsa, OK 410,652 3,412
36 Washington, DC 683,154 3,423
37 Santa Clarita, CA 227,182 3,428
38 Oklahoma City, OK 673,183 3,459
39 Greensboro, NC 295,483 3,491
40 Jacksonville, FL 937,690 3,491
41 Anchorage, AK 292,545 3,500
42 Cleveland, OH 374,861 3,503
43 Austin, TX 944,658 3,511
44 Norfolk, VA 238,556 3,549
45 Glendale, AZ 245,685 3,590
46 Phoenix, AZ 1,591,119 3,614
47 Newark, NJ 306,247 3,625
48 Raleigh, NC 462,219 3,688
49 Indianapolis, IN 880,104 3,726
50 Bakersfield, CA 398,756 3,742
51 Anaheim, CA 348,204 3,752
52 Chandler, AZ 272,439 3,806
53 Richmond, VA 225,676 3,814
54 Columbus, OH 898,143 3,824
55 Tucson, AZ 538,167 3,844
56 Atlanta, GA 492,204 3,861
57 Denver, CO 706,799 3,879
58 Nashville, TN 682,646 3,885
59 Riverside, CA 314,858 3,887
60 Kansas City, MO 502,597 3,909
61 Albuquerque, NM 562,336 3,918
62 Lubbock, TX 255,537 3,955
63 St. Louis, MO 302,787 3,992
64 Cincinnati, OH 308,664 4,007
65 Chesapeake, VA 247,172 4,017
66 Arlington, VA 235,764 4,070
67 Minneapolis, MN 425,091 4,091
68 Henderson, NV 311,250 4,130
69 Toledo, OH 271,454 4,145
70 Virginia Beach, VA 457,658 4,146
71 Chula Vista, CA 274,818 4,146
72 Reno, NV 259,913 4,240
73 Seattle, WA 726,054 4,268
74 Fremont, CA 231,502 4,280
75 Wichita, KS 394,574 4,287
76 New Orleans, LA 383,974 4,302
77 Mesa, AZ 497,752 4,455
78 Baltimore, MD 592,211 4,508
79 St. Petersburg, FL 258,245 4,602
80 Fort Wayne, IN 262,676 4,624
81 Pittsburgh, PA 303,207 4,646
82 Louisville, KY 630,260 4,682
83 Omaha, NE 488,059 4,688
84 Memphis, TN 634,139 4,797
85 Colorado Springs, CO 475,282 4,895
86 San Antonio, TX 1,434,540 4,899
87 Corpus Christi, TX 318,168 4,945
88 Portland, OR 647,176 4,964
89 Gilbert, AZ 262,249 5,064
90 Lexington, KY 321,354 5,195
91 Madison, WI 265,447 5,380
92 Miami, FL 440,807 5,553
93 Santa Ana, CA 313,818 6,116
94 Detroit, MI 645,658 6,181
95 Lincoln, NE 289,136 6,263
96 Scottsdale, AZ 238,685 6,340
97 Spokane, WA 225,709 6,534
98 El Paso, TX 676,395 6,821
99 Boise City, ID 231,537 6,835
100 Laredo, TX 254,697 9,135

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 2017-2021 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 2,298 (Oakland, CA) to 9,135 (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 2023. This report is our tenth time ranking the cities in America with the most diversity.

Summary: The Most Diverse Big Cities In America

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. Boise City, ID
  3. El Paso, TX

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.