Racial diversity in Indiana is a mixed bag.
There are parts of Indiana where there’s a high level of diversity. But where will you find the most diverse places in Indiana?
To answer that question, we went to the US Census data. Using Saturday Night Science, we measured the Gini coefficient for all 125 cities in Indiana to rank them from most to least diverse.
#1 most diverse in Indiana
Located in
Lake County, IndianaHammond is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. First settled in the mid-19th century, it is one of the oldest cities of northern Lake County. As of the 2010 United States census, it is also the largest in population: the 2010 population was 80,830, replacing Gary as the most populous city in Lake County. From north to south, Hammond runs from Lake Michigan down to the Little Calumet River; from east to west along its southern border, it runs from the Illinois state line to Cline Avenue. The city is traversed by numerous railroads and expressways, including the South Shore Line, Borman Expressway, and Indiana Toll Road.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#2 most diverse in Indiana
Located in
Marion County, IndianaLawrence is a city in Marion County, Indiana, United States. It is one of four “excluded cities” in Marion County. The city is home to Fort Benjamin Harrison within Fort Harrison State Park. The population was 46,001 at the 2010 census. The city is also adjacent to the east side of Indianapolis.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#3 most diverse in Indiana
Located in
Marion County, IndianaIndianapolis is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. It is in the East North Central region of the Midwestern United States. With an estimated population of 855,164 in 2016, Indianapolis is the second most populous city in the Midwest and 15th most populous in the U.S. The city is the economic and cultural center of the Indianapolis metropolitan area, home to 2 million people, the 34th most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. Its combined statistical area ranks 27th, with 2.38 million inhabitants. Indianapolis covers 368 square miles, making it the 16th largest city by land area in the U.S.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#4 most diverse in Indiana
Located in
St. Joseph County, IndianaSouth Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 318,586 and Combined Statistical Area of 721,296. It is the fourth-largest city in Indiana, serving as the economic and cultural hub of Northern Indiana. The highly ranked University of Notre Dame is located just to the north in unincorporated Notre Dame, Indiana and is an integral contributor to the region’s economy.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#5 most diverse in Indiana
Located in
Lake County, IndianaMerrillville is a town in Ross Township, Lake County, Indiana. The population was 35,246 at the 2010 census. Merrillville is located in the east-central portion of Lake County, in the Chicago metropolitan area. On January 1, 2015, Merrillville became the most populated town in Indiana, as Fishers in Hamilton County was converted from a town to a city.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#6 most diverse in Indiana
Located in
Marion County, IndianaSpeedway is a town in Wayne Township, Marion County, Indiana, United States. The population was 11,812 at the 2010 census. Speedway is home of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway; it is an enclave of Indianapolis.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#7 most diverse in Indiana
Located in
Elkhart County, IndianaElkhart is a city in Elkhart County, Indiana, United States. The city is located 15 miles east of South Bend, Indiana, 110 miles east of Chicago, Illinois, and 150 miles north of Indianapolis, Indiana. Elkhart has the larger population of the two principal cities of the Elkhart-Goshen Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in turn is part of the South Bend-Elkhart-Mishawaka Combined Statistical Area, in a region commonly known as Michiana. The population was 50,949 at the 2010 census. Despite the shared name, it is not the county seat of Elkhart County; that position is held by the city of Goshen, located about 10 miles southeast of Elkhart.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#8 most diverse in Indiana
Located in
Lake County, IndianaGriffith is a town in Calumet and St. John townships in Lake County, Indiana, United States. It is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area. The population was 16,893 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#9 most diverse in Indiana
Located in
Allen County, IndianaCoordinates: 410449.62N 850820.94W 41.0804500; -85.1391500
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#10 most diverse in Indiana
Michigan City is a city in LaPorte County, Indiana, United States. It is one of the two principal cities of the Michigan City-La Porte, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City Combined Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Indiana’s statewide median.
On the map
Where diversity lives in Indiana
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the most diverse cities in Indiana for 2026
We still believe in the accuracy of data — especially from the Census — and Saturday Night Science. So that’s where we went to get the race breakdown across Indiana.
That leads us to the Census’s most recently available data, the 2020-2024 American Community Survey data from the US Census.
Specifically, we looked at table B03002: HISPANIC OR LATINO ORIGIN BY RACE. Here are the category names 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 non-CDPs with a population greater than 5,000 people. That left us with 125 cities.
We then calculated the HHI for each city by finding the racial breakdown of a city in percent terms, squaring them, and then adding the squares together. This left us with scores ranging from 3,193 (Hammond) to 9,173 (Boonville).
Finally, we ranked each city based on the HHI, with a lower score being more diverse than a high score. Hammond took the distinction of being the most diverse, while Boonville was the least diverse city.
We updated this article for 2026. This report is our eleventh time ranking the most diverse places in Indiana.
The full plate
Race By City In Indiana For 2026
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | HHI | % White | % Black | % Hispanic | % Asian |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hammond | 76,768 | 3,193 | 32.5% | 22.5% | 40.2% | 1.5% |
| 2 | Lawrence | 49,517 | 3,285 | 46.1% | 28.4% | 18.0% | 2.0% |
| 3 | Indianapolis | 885,860 | 3,382 | 48.9% | 27.6% | 13.8% | 4.2% |
| 4 | South Bend | 103,085 | 3,455 | 50.9% | 22.4% | 17.9% | 2.3% |
| 5 | Merrillville | 36,476 | 3,495 | 33.4% | 46.1% | 15.6% | 1.0% |
| 6 | Speedway | 13,968 | 3,837 | 51.7% | 32.5% | 8.8% | 2.8% |
| 7 | Elkhart | 53,733 | 3,920 | 54.9% | 12.4% | 27.0% | 0.5% |
| 8 | Griffith | 16,273 | 4,053 | 58.7% | 14.5% | 19.1% | 2.0% |
| 9 | Fort Wayne | 268,589 | 4,375 | 63.2% | 14.0% | 10.6% | 6.1% |
| 10 | Michigan City | 31,814 | 4,393 | 61.0% | 23.8% | 8.9% | 0.7% |
| 11 | Logansport | 17,790 | 4,559 | 58.3% | 1.9% | 33.7% | 1.2% |
| 12 | Lake Station | 13,185 | 4,590 | 59.1% | 2.5% | 32.8% | 1.4% |
| 13 | Goshen | 34,420 | 4,607 | 58.7% | 2.3% | 33.8% | 1.1% |
| 14 | East Chicago | 26,022 | 4,611 | 6.1% | 36.1% | 57.2% | 0.0% |
| 15 | Hobart | 29,558 | 4,756 | 65.3% | 14.3% | 16.7% | 1.1% |
| 15 | Portage | 38,082 | 4,756 | 64.8% | 9.3% | 21.3% | 1.2% |
| 17 | West Lafayette | 45,159 | 4,794 | 65.3% | 3.5% | 5.5% | 21.9% |
| 18 | Highland | 23,680 | 4,815 | 65.7% | 8.7% | 20.3% | 1.8% |
| 19 | Seymour | 22,371 | 4,894 | 65.4% | 1.1% | 24.0% | 4.1% |
| 20 | Avon | 23,437 | 4,965 | 68.4% | 13.8% | 7.0% | 4.6% |
| 21 | Frankfort | 15,917 | 5,036 | 62.0% | 0.8% | 34.4% | 0.4% |
| 22 | Huntingburg | 6,396 | 5,038 | 63.0% | 0.5% | 32.6% | 1.5% |
| 23 | Lafayette | 71,159 | 5,054 | 68.7% | 10.3% | 14.4% | 2.5% |
| 24 | Westville | 5,279 | 5,067 | 66.2% | 25.3% | 6.5% | 0.2% |
| 25 | Plainfield | 36,369 | 5,151 | 70.0% | 11.7% | 6.6% | 6.6% |
| 26 | Munster | 23,733 | 5,156 | 69.6% | 7.4% | 14.5% | 6.3% |
| 27 | Schererville | 29,701 | 5,245 | 70.0% | 7.7% | 16.2% | 2.1% |
| 28 | Clarksville | 22,016 | 5,263 | 70.1% | 8.7% | 15.7% | 0.8% |
| 29 | Cumberland | 6,267 | 5,364 | 71.5% | 10.5% | 9.4% | 0.4% |
| 30 | Columbus | 51,824 | 5,428 | 71.9% | 2.5% | 10.7% | 11.5% |
| 31 | Winfield | 7,816 | 5,471 | 72.4% | 5.1% | 12.4% | 5.6% |
| 32 | Anderson | 55,367 | 5,498 | 72.5% | 11.6% | 8.1% | 0.6% |
| 33 | Marion | 27,531 | 5,598 | 73.4% | 9.8% | 8.3% | 1.1% |
| 34 | Jeffersonville | 51,043 | 5,600 | 73.3% | 12.0% | 5.8% | 1.9% |
| 35 | Mishawaka | 51,021 | 5,631 | 73.7% | 10.7% | 6.4% | 2.4% |
| 36 | Greenwood | 66,029 | 5,673 | 74.1% | 5.6% | 7.6% | 9.0% |
| 37 | Bloomington | 80,049 | 5,710 | 74.3% | 4.9% | 5.5% | 10.7% |
| 38 | Plymouth | 10,664 | 5,780 | 71.8% | 0.7% | 24.9% | 0.7% |
| 39 | Carmel | 101,651 | 5,868 | 75.4% | 3.0% | 5.5% | 11.6% |
| 40 | Evansville | 116,116 | 5,910 | 75.6% | 11.7% | 4.0% | 1.0% |
| 41 | La Porte | 22,449 | 5,923 | 75.4% | 4.0% | 13.5% | 0.7% |
| 42 | Gary | 68,113 | 5,944 | 9.4% | 75.7% | 10.4% | 0.4% |
| 43 | Charlestown | 8,294 | 5,945 | 75.7% | 3.3% | 12.3% | 0.7% |
| 44 | Westfield | 54,677 | 5,950 | 76.2% | 6.1% | 8.4% | 3.7% |
| 45 | Crown Point | 34,393 | 5,958 | 75.9% | 7.9% | 10.6% | 2.2% |
| 46 | Washington | 12,367 | 5,981 | 76.0% | 3.6% | 11.6% | 0.5% |
| 47 | Warsaw | 16,768 | 6,006 | 75.8% | 1.7% | 15.4% | 4.1% |
| 48 | White | 12,466 | 6,049 | 76.8% | 4.6% | 4.2% | 9.9% |
| 49 | Rensselaer | 5,573 | 6,127 | 76.5% | 2.3% | 15.4% | 0.5% |
| 50 | Brownsburg | 31,215 | 6,185 | 77.4% | 12.4% | 5.4% | 1.1% |
| 51 | Porter | 5,217 | 6,274 | 78.2% | 3.2% | 11.0% | 2.2% |
| 52 | Muncie | 64,751 | 6,281 | 78.4% | 8.1% | 4.4% | 2.1% |
| 53 | Terre Haute | 58,427 | 6,330 | 78.7% | 8.7% | 4.4% | 2.1% |
| 54 | Richmond | 35,581 | 6,331 | 78.8% | 6.2% | 5.4% | 1.5% |
| 55 | Nappanee | 6,815 | 6,342 | 78.1% | 2.5% | 15.2% | 1.8% |
| 56 | Kokomo | 59,122 | 6,348 | 78.8% | 9.9% | 4.3% | 2.0% |
| 57 | Dyer | 16,400 | 6,370 | 78.6% | 2.4% | 12.7% | 3.1% |
| 58 | St. John | 22,567 | 6,398 | 78.7% | 2.3% | 13.6% | 2.0% |
| 59 | New Albany | 37,581 | 6,446 | 79.5% | 7.7% | 5.5% | 1.3% |
| 60 | McCordsville | 10,329 | 6,490 | 79.7% | 10.2% | 3.8% | 2.1% |
| 61 | Valparaiso | 34,733 | 6,540 | 80.1% | 3.3% | 9.9% | 2.4% |
| 62 | Princeton | 8,372 | 6,549 | 80.2% | 4.9% | 7.1% | 0.9% |
| 63 | Hunte | 11,379 | 6,688 | 81.3% | 4.2% | 5.8% | 5.0% |
| 64 | Rochester | 6,215 | 6,731 | 81.4% | 1.1% | 8.6% | 0.1% |
| 65 | Noblesville | 73,362 | 6,837 | 82.2% | 5.0% | 5.7% | 3.5% |
| 66 | Winona Lake | 5,080 | 6,844 | 81.8% | 1.0% | 11.4% | 0.5% |
| 67 | Beech Grove | 14,913 | 6,858 | 82.2% | 7.3% | 4.4% | 1.3% |
| 68 | Shelbyville | 20,296 | 7,067 | 83.4% | 2.5% | 10.0% | 1.8% |
| 68 | New Haven | 15,698 | 7,068 | 83.6% | 4.2% | 5.6% | 1.9% |
| 70 | Greencastle | 9,864 | 7,097 | 83.9% | 5.1% | 3.5% | 2.6% |
| 71 | Crawfordsville | 16,491 | 7,131 | 83.8% | 1.8% | 9.8% | 0.6% |
| 72 | Vincennes | 16,586 | 7,291 | 85.0% | 3.5% | 5.1% | 0.9% |
| 73 | Zionsville | 32,095 | 7,310 | 85.2% | 4.7% | 3.4% | 4.3% |
| 74 | Jasper | 15,991 | 7,329 | 84.9% | 1.0% | 10.6% | 0.7% |
| 75 | New Whiteland | 5,704 | 7,375 | 85.0% | 0.0% | 3.3% | 0.0% |
| 76 | Cedar Lake | 15,295 | 7,428 | 85.6% | 0.2% | 8.5% | 1.0% |
| 77 | Kendallville | 10,556 | 7,482 | 86.0% | 0.2% | 9.0% | 1.7% |
| 78 | Chesterton | 14,446 | 7,486 | 86.2% | 1.7% | 6.2% | 1.9% |
| 79 | Portland | 6,416 | 7,508 | 85.9% | 0.6% | 11.1% | 0.0% |
| 80 | Peru | 10,901 | 7,555 | 86.6% | 2.9% | 4.7% | 0.1% |
| 81 | Lowell | 11,073 | 7,567 | 86.4% | 0.3% | 9.8% | 0.0% |
| 82 | Whiteland | 5,173 | 7,652 | 87.1% | 6.9% | 1.1% | 1.7% |
| 83 | Bargersville | 10,752 | 7,663 | 87.3% | 3.2% | 0.9% | 5.1% |
| 84 | Scottsburg | 7,362 | 7,673 | 87.3% | 0.9% | 3.7% | 0.0% |
| 85 | Decatur | 9,811 | 7,711 | 87.2% | 0.7% | 9.7% | 0.0% |
| 86 | Pendleton | 5,321 | 7,752 | 87.5% | 0.3% | 9.8% | 0.3% |
| 87 | Angola | 9,408 | 7,769 | 87.8% | 1.8% | 6.8% | 0.9% |
| 88 | Lebanon | 17,812 | 7,814 | 88.0% | 0.6% | 7.8% | 0.2% |
| 89 | Columbia City | 9,897 | 7,847 | 88.2% | 0.3% | 6.7% | 0.2% |
| 90 | North Vernon | 7,078 | 7,871 | 88.3% | 0.9% | 7.8% | 1.3% |
| 91 | Gas City | 6,076 | 7,953 | 88.9% | 0.8% | 4.7% | 0.3% |
| 92 | Bluffton | 10,529 | 7,960 | 89.0% | 1.8% | 5.8% | 0.2% |
| 93 | New Castle | 17,367 | 7,996 | 89.2% | 3.5% | 2.2% | 0.7% |
| 94 | Greenfield | 24,940 | 8,054 | 89.6% | 2.1% | 3.2% | 1.7% |
| 95 | Madison | 12,223 | 8,056 | 89.6% | 2.2% | 2.0% | 1.3% |
| 96 | Yor | 11,699 | 8,063 | 89.6% | 1.2% | 1.4% | 3.1% |
| 97 | Tipton | 5,280 | 8,115 | 89.9% | 2.5% | 4.2% | 0.0% |
| 98 | Greensburg | 12,229 | 8,117 | 89.9% | 0.5% | 4.9% | 0.0% |
| 99 | Franklin | 26,168 | 8,126 | 90.0% | 2.7% | 2.7% | 1.5% |
| 100 | Rushville | 6,036 | 8,155 | 90.1% | 1.8% | 3.8% | 0.0% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 125 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
Summary: Diversity Across Indiana
If you’re looking for a scientific breakdown of diversity across Indiana, this is an accurate list.
The most diverse cities in Indiana are Hammond, Lawrence, Indianapolis, South Bend, Merrillville, Speedway, Elkhart, Griffith, Fort Wayne, and Michigan City.
