Whitest States In The United States For 2026

Vermont, Maine, and West Virginia are the whitest states in America for 2026.

Today, we’ll report on the whitest states in America. Using the most recent Census data on race by origin, we identified the states with the highest percentage of white residents in the United States.

We considered ‘non-Hispanic or Latino, white’ as ‘white’ for the purposes of this article. The data comes from table B03002 of the latest American Community Survey, which breaks down race by Hispanic and Latino origin.

The state with the highest percentage of white people is Vermont. 89.9% of people in Vermont are white.

The state with the lowest percentage of white people is Hawaii. 20.9% of people in Hawaii are white.

The state with the most white people is California. 13,267,442 people in California are white.

The state with the fewest white people is Hawaii. 302,359 people in Hawaii are white.

The United States has 191,965,986 white people and is 57.4% white.

Now, white people make up 57.4% of all races in the US, according to the most recent Census. By 2050, that number will be at less than half.

The Upper Northeast tends to be the whitest part of the country, while the further south and west you go, the more diverse it gets.

We ended up with this list of the ten whitest states in the country.

On the map

The whitest states in America, mapped

Alabama: #28 (0.6339703324389868)28Arizona: #41 (0.5257730282193483)41Arkansas: #25 (0.6739207927091015)25California: #49 (0.3377024126604329)49Colorado: #27 (0.6478658398765376)27Connecticut: #32 (0.618765084805993)Delaware: #35 (0.5811762931714047)District Of ColumbiaFlorida: #43 (0.504195805537249)43Georgia: #44 (0.49120201835269933)44Idaho: #12 (0.7855316394573227)12Illinois: #36 (0.5806051423583108)36Indiana: #16 (0.7537772550372767)16Iowa: #6 (0.8231241981406675)6Kansas: #20 (0.7272449042259476)20Kentucky: #8 (0.8154863341995191)8Louisiana: #38 (0.5573635596658342)38Maine: #2 (0.8991134998346324)2Maryland: #45 (0.4658315945621108)Massachusetts: #26 (0.6660070561619612)Michigan: #21 (0.7235368054471624)21Minnesota: #14 (0.7588491570177953)14Mississippi: #39 (0.5519375562266461)39Missouri: #13 (0.7628887108042974)13Montana: #5 (0.8359127028539451)5Nebraska: #17 (0.7529806080435355)17Nevada: #46 (0.4478551861262848)46New Hampshire: #4 (0.8692033941562929)New Jersey: #42 (0.5094259739256228)New Mexico: #48 (0.3595908210651028)48New York: #40 (0.5275839665660003)40North Carolina: #33 (0.6000326735135042)33North Dakota: #7 (0.8173884901527826)7Ohio: #15 (0.7583142941500266)15Oklahoma: #30 (0.6212180108691929)30Oregon: #22 (0.7136283279031322)22Pennsylvania: #19 (0.7301353851197502)19Rhode Island: #24 (0.6801945178848086)South Carolina: #31 (0.618928198858621)31South Dakota: #10 (0.7975607982120896)10Tennessee: #23 (0.7102615298378251)23Texas: #47 (0.39119054376604756)47Utah: #18 (0.7472920537530093)18Vermont: #1 (0.8994368774203917)Virginia: #34 (0.583535760932871)34Washington: #29 (0.6314591543933074)29West Virginia: #3 (0.896800052632378)3Wisconsin: #11 (0.785602461050721)11Wyoming: #9 (0.8135189570001219)9AKHI#50#1
Shaded by rank, darkest = No. 1. Download the map.
Alabama: #28 (0.6339703324389868)28Arizona: #41 (0.5257730282193483)41Arkansas: #25 (0.6739207927091015)25California: #49 (0.3377024126604329)49Colorado: #27 (0.6478658398765376)27Connecticut: #32 (0.618765084805993)Delaware: #35 (0.5811762931714047)District Of ColumbiaFlorida: #43 (0.504195805537249)43Georgia: #44 (0.49120201835269933)44Idaho: #12 (0.7855316394573227)12Illinois: #36 (0.5806051423583108)36Indiana: #16 (0.7537772550372767)16Iowa: #6 (0.8231241981406675)6Kansas: #20 (0.7272449042259476)20Kentucky: #8 (0.8154863341995191)8Louisiana: #38 (0.5573635596658342)38Maine: #2 (0.8991134998346324)2Maryland: #45 (0.4658315945621108)Massachusetts: #26 (0.6660070561619612)Michigan: #21 (0.7235368054471624)21Minnesota: #14 (0.7588491570177953)14Mississippi: #39 (0.5519375562266461)39Missouri: #13 (0.7628887108042974)13Montana: #5 (0.8359127028539451)5Nebraska: #17 (0.7529806080435355)17Nevada: #46 (0.4478551861262848)46New Hampshire: #4 (0.8692033941562929)New Jersey: #42 (0.5094259739256228)New Mexico: #48 (0.3595908210651028)48New York: #40 (0.5275839665660003)40North Carolina: #33 (0.6000326735135042)33North Dakota: #7 (0.8173884901527826)7Ohio: #15 (0.7583142941500266)15Oklahoma: #30 (0.6212180108691929)30Oregon: #22 (0.7136283279031322)22Pennsylvania: #19 (0.7301353851197502)19Rhode Island: #24 (0.6801945178848086)South Carolina: #31 (0.618928198858621)31South Dakota: #10 (0.7975607982120896)10Tennessee: #23 (0.7102615298378251)23Texas: #47 (0.39119054376604756)47Utah: #18 (0.7472920537530093)18Vermont: #1 (0.8994368774203917)Virginia: #34 (0.583535760932871)34Washington: #29 (0.6314591543933074)29West Virginia: #3 (0.896800052632378)3Wisconsin: #11 (0.785602461050721)11Wyoming: #9 (0.8135189570001219)9AKHI20.9%89.9%
Shaded by % white, darkest = highest.

Source: HomeSnacks

  1. 1 Vermont
  2. 2 Maine
  3. 3 West Virginia
  4. 4 New Hampshire
  5. 5 Montana
  6. 6 Iowa
  7. 7 North Dakota
  8. 8 Kentucky
  9. 9 Wyoming
  10. 10 South Dakota
1

No. 1 whitest state in America

Vermont

647,106 peopleup 1
Vermont

Our first stop is in Vermont, which is 89.9% white. It may not be a stretch to say that depending on where in Vermont you live, it’s possible that you also haven’t seen a person of color in a couple months.

Vermonters are very outdoorsy types. Camping, hiking and skiing are all very popular white things to do. People here are also very liberal and progressive. They support charities, care about the environment and are involved in their communities. Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are still a big deal in these parts. So is Yoga. And, just like their friends in New Hampshire, just about everyone drives a Subaru. Or some other 4 wheel drive SUV type vehicle.

If you’re a person of color in New Hampshire, you’re very… lonely. The whitest places in Vermont are Rutland and Barre.

2

No. 2 whitest state in America

Maine

1,387,817 peopledown 1
Maine

Welcome to Maine, the second whitest state in America. Here, 89.9% of the population is some shade of white. And, for a majority of the year, the ground is covered in white, too. Some of the whitest places in Maine include Brewer and Belfast which both clock in at over 96% white.

Why is Maine so white? For the most part, an ethnic person who wants to come to Maine with a family of four or five people is not going to find a home they can afford, and there’s almost no rental housing whatsoever here. According to research, the white folks in the great north don’t see racial diversity as a problem like people in the southern states do. It’s as if the white people up here don’t care that everyone is white.

So Maine might just like being so white.

3

No. 3 whitest state in America

West Virginia

1,778,373 people
West Virginia

West Virginia. Mountain Mama. Take me home, my country roads. To the whitest places, like Moundsville and New Martinsville.

That song is from John Denver, a very white guy who is adored by…white people. His song about West Virginia talks about how beautiful the Mountain State is, but it doesn’t talk about how overwhelmingly non diverse the state is. A whopping 89.7% of people in West Virginia are white. Most of them are huuuuge NASCAR fans, which is probably the most white sport in the entire world. Kids are practically raised with headsets on in West Virginia.

4

No. 4 whitest state in America

New Hampshire

1,394,868 people
New Hampshire

We’re going back up to the northeast once again, where we stop in the very white state of New Hampshire. 86.9% of people in New Hampshire are white. Like many other states in the New England area, Farmers Markets, Subarus and Granola Bars are really popular in New Hampshire. And all are very much dominated by white people. Did you know that 97% of Subaru owners are white? Why is that? So interesting. Turns out that’s basically how white places like Franklin and Claremont are.

There’s so many white people in New Hampshire, that non white people who move here complain about the lack of diversity. If you speak Spanish when you move to New Hampshire, you’ll probably forget how to speak Spanish after a while.

5

No. 5 whitest state in America

Montana

1,116,875 people
Montana

Montana only has 900,000 people, and it would be hard to find less minorities in one state if you tried. Considering that 83.6% of the population here is white, that means that there are only around 18,000 African Americans and 16,000 Latinos in the entire state! And the whitest place in the state? We kid you not, Whitefish.

Why is it that only white people like cold weather anyways?

White people in Montana love to hunt. They love it so much, that a ton of people have deer stands in their front yards in Montana. Montana people will actually call in sick to work on the opening day of hunting season. You can judge a white Montana man by the number of does he plugged last winter, and by the size of his gun.

6

No. 6 whitest state in America

Iowa

3,210,507 people
Iowa

Iowa has to be on this list. When you think about Iowa, you think about farming first, and then wrestling. Both are very white things to do. After Texas and Missouri, Iowa is third in America for number of farms.

Farmer John, Old MacDonald and Ray from Field of Dreams are all famous white farmers from Iowa.

What else is there to do in Iowa for fun? Cow tipping, building corn mazes and going to the state fair are popular modes of entertainment. And all three are very white things to do in cities such as Carroll and Manchester.

7

No. 7 whitest state in America

North Dakota

784,841 people
North Dakota

We move on to another cold state, North Dakota, where things are definitely mostly white.

Here, 81.7% of the population is white. And not just caucasian. I mean pale and pasty white. It’s pretty cold and dark here for a majority of the year, meaning the white population here has to find all sorts of creative ways to remain occupied for long stretches of the year. That means long hours spent indoors watching Seinfeld reruns and playing gin rummy.

Hockey is a totally white thing to play, and for many North Dakotans, hockey is a way of life. Did you know 1 in 5 kids plays hockey in North Dakota? It’s true.

The rest of North Dakota is made up of Native Americans at 5%, Latinos at 4%, and African Americans at 1%. A good example of a really white place in North Dakota? Valley City.

8

No. 8 whitest state in America

Kentucky

4,534,824 people
Kentucky

Here in the state of Kentucky, 81.5% of the population is white. Kentucky is home to horse breeders and bourbon makers, too, which are totally white things to do in your spare time. If you live in Kentucky, odds are you drive a pick up truck, drink Budweiser and chew tobacco. We’re talking about you, Cold Spring, KY guy.

So white people like basketball and chicken? Because that’s also what Kentucky is well known for. Let us know in the comments below.

9

No. 9 whitest state in America

Wyoming

582,397 people
Wyoming

Oh I’ve got friends in low places, where the whiskey drowns and the beer chases all my blues away… Everyone knows that cowboys are mostly white. So it’s no surprise that the Cowboy State is our ninth whitest state, right? Cowboys are a total white thing. They love ropin, ridin’ and mutton bustin. For all those who are not aware of mutton bustin, its when a kid tries to ride a sheep around for at least 8 seconds.

Here in Wyoming, 81.4% of the population is white. Only one percent is black, and about two percent is Native American here. That’s especially true in Sheridan.

Most people in Wyoming listen to country music, too, which is another white stereotype. Additionally, you can bet that there are a lot of people who go camping and hiking in Wyoming, since that’s something that’s mostly what white people do.

10

No. 10 whitest state in America

South Dakota

907,428 people
South Dakota

Our tenth stop on the white tour of America bring us to, unsurprisingly, South Dakota. Here in South Dakota, the white population is 79.8%. Actually, 10% of the population in South Dakota is Native American, since there are some pretty big native american reservations in the Mount Rushmore State.

This is home to Mt. Rushmore, which has a giant monument featuring… 4 white guys. If you’re a white ice fisherman named Ned who drives his snowmobile to work every day, you likely live here in South Dakota. And even the whitest cities in the state have white names like Brandon.

The verdict

So what’s the whitest state in America for 2026?

What’s the whitest state in America for 2026? It turns out Vermont is the whitest state in the country, where 89.9% of residents are white.

Read below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your state ranked. Or check out more on the most diverse states in America.

Saturday Night Science

How We Determined The Whitest States In The US For 2026

To determine the whitest states in America, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the ultimate source of data — the US Census.

The 2020-2024 American Community Survey provides the most recent data on the breakdown of race by state. In particular, table B03002 has the breakdown by Hispanic and Latino origin and race.

  • Percent White

We looked at the percentage of the population of each state that identified as non-Hispanic or Latino, white. We then ranked the states from most white to least white, with one being the whitest. We updated this article for 2026. This report is our eleventh time ranking the whitest states in America.

You can learn more about the top ten below or skip to the end to see the rankings for every state, including the least white states.

The full plate

All 50 states, ranked by percent white

Click any column to sort. Search by state name.

RankStatePopulationWhite Population% White
1Vermont647,106582,03189.9%
2Maine1,387,8171,247,80589.9%
3West Virginia1,778,3731,594,84589.7%
4New Hampshire1,394,8681,212,42486.9%
5Montana1,116,875933,61083.6%
6Iowa3,210,5072,642,64682.3%
7North Dakota784,841641,52081.7%
8Kentucky4,534,8243,698,08781.5%
9Wyoming582,397473,79181.4%
10South Dakota907,428723,72979.8%
11Wisconsin5,914,8724,646,73878.6%
12Idaho1,934,2621,519,42478.6%
13Missouri6,191,8144,723,66576.3%
14Minnesota5,739,4454,355,37375.9%
15Ohio11,810,2938,955,91475.8%
16Indiana6,851,0735,164,18375.4%
17Nebraska1,978,7071,489,92875.3%
18Utah3,392,3312,535,06274.7%
19Pennsylvania13,018,6399,505,36973.0%
20Kansas2,947,1972,143,33472.7%
21Michigan10,077,7617,291,63172.4%
22Oregon4,254,2933,035,98471.4%
23Tennessee7,066,3835,018,98071.0%
24Rhode Island1,101,801749,43968.0%
25Arkansas3,049,3912,055,04867.4%
26Massachusetts7,044,0564,691,39166.6%
27Colorado5,862,1893,797,91264.8%
28Alabama5,086,7683,224,86063.4%
29Washington7,816,1164,935,55863.1%
30Oklahoma4,028,6342,502,66062.1%
31South Carolina5,296,2253,277,98361.9%
32Connecticut3,624,5082,242,71961.9%
33North Carolina10,730,4046,438,59360.0%
34Virginia8,705,1705,079,77858.4%
35Delaware1,021,191593,49258.1%
36Illinois12,694,7987,370,66558.1%
37Alaska735,706424,58457.7%
38Louisiana4,611,9612,570,53955.7%
39Mississippi2,946,7791,626,43855.2%
40New York19,852,36610,473,79052.8%
41Arizona7,378,8383,879,59452.6%
42New Jersey9,343,8094,759,97950.9%
43Florida22,416,07711,302,09250.4%
44Georgia10,940,4075,373,95049.1%
45Maryland6,206,0112,890,95646.6%
46Nevada3,184,6121,426,24544.8%
47Texas30,188,42411,809,42639.1%
48New Mexico2,120,246762,42136.0%
49California39,287,37713,267,44233.8%
50Hawaii1,445,235302,35920.9%

Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024.

There You Have It — The Whitest States In The Country

After measuring the percentage of each state that is white, it’s clear — the north and northeast are the whitest places you could live in our country.

The whitest states in the United States for 2026 are Vermont, Maine, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Montana, Iowa, North Dakota, Kentucky, Wyoming, and South Dakota.

There is a pattern of migration that determines where people move. In many of these places, traditionally, there were no jobs and little to attract people of color to settle. It will be interesting to see if those migration patterns change over time.

Chris Kolmar
About the author

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.

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