America's Most Diverse Metros
Among the 100 largest metros, San Jose is the most diverse. San Jose is 35 percent white (the largest group), 31 percent Asian, 28 percent Hispanic, 3 percent two-or-more races, and 2 percent black. In no other metro does the largest group have a share smaller than 35 percent. New York ranks second, with a population that is 39 percent white, 28 percent Hispanic, 19 percent Black, and 12 percent Asian. Four of the ten most diverse large metros in the U.S. are in California: San Jose, Oakland, Orange County, and San Francisco. Only one "“ New York "“ is in the Northeast, and not one is in the Midwest.
U.S. Metro
Percent population in the largest group
1. San Jose, California
35 percent
2. New York, New York
39 percent
3. Oakland, California
40 percent
4. Houston, Texas
40 percent
5. Honolulu, Hawaii
43 percent
6. Fort Lauderdale, Florida
44 percent
7. Orange County, California
44 percent
8. Memphis, Tennessee
46 percent
9. San Francisco, California
46 percent
10. Albuquerque, New Mexico
47 percent
The map below shows the diversity index for counties across America. Diversity is highest in California and Hawaii, as well as much of the South. The least-diverse parts of the country (those with the highest share in the largest group), in contrast, are in New England and parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia.
Among the 100 largest metros, Pittsburgh is the least diverse: it is 87 percent white, 8 percent black, 2 percent Asian, and 1 percent Hispanic. El Paso also stands out as America's least-diverse large metro that is not majority-White: El Paso is 82 percent Hispanic, 13 percent white, and 3 percent black. Hispanics are the majority in Fresno, San Antonio, and Miami as well. In none of the 100 largest metros are Blacks or Asians a majority. The metro with the highest percentage of blacks is Memphis, at 45 percent, and the metro with the highest percentage of Asians is Honolulu, at 43 percent.
America's Most Diverse Neighborhoods
The diversity people experience day-to-day, though, depends on how diverse their neighborhood is. If members of a racial or ethnic group tend to live near each other in specific neighborhoods, even diverse metros could have mostly segregated neighborhoods. So let's turn to diversity within neighborhoods, which we define as ZIP codes.
The most diverse neighborhood in America is the ZIP code 75038. Located just east of the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, this zip code includes the neighborhoods of Broadmoor Hills and Song in Irving, Texas. That zip code is 26 percent Asian, 25 percent black, 23 percent Hispanic, and 23 percent white. The next-most diverse neighborhoods are Queens Village (11428) in the borough of Queens, New York, and San Francisco's Treasure Island (94130).
Rank
Zip Code
Neighborhood
Metro
Percent Population in Largest Group
1.
75038
Irving
Dallas
25.7 percent
2.
11428
Queens Village
New York
26.4 percent
3.
94130
Treasure Island
San Francisco
27.2 percent
4.
77407
Lakemont
Houston
27.9 percent
5.
96786
Wahiawa
Honolulu
28.5 percent
6.
96731
Kahuku
Honolulu
28.7 percent
7.
98`78
Rainier View
Seattle
28.8 percent
8.
02125
Dorchester
Boston
29.1 percent
9.
96707
Kapolei
Honolulu
29.2 percent
10.
95834
South Natomas
Sacramento
29.2 percent