Even though the United States is growing increasingly culturally and racially diverse, some parts of the country are more multicultural than others.
When couples start to think about their future, and begin planning their family and determining where to raise their future children, some think about the diversity of the area because they want their children to be exposed to a variety of peoples.
To identify the most culturally diverse places in America, personal finance site WalletHub’s analysts compared 501 of the largest U.S. cities across three key metrics, including ethnoracial diversity, linguistic diversity and birthplace diversity.
The results show that the state of Maryland has the most diverse cities in the entire nation. (Interestingly enough, Maryland also ranked number 5 in terms of best high performing school so there could be something to say about how that diversity actually enriches the education and learning process). Coming in second is the Bay area with two cities; Oakland and San Jose among the top 10.
The New England area is home to the least culturally diverse cities with three Vermont and one New Hampshire cities in the bottom ten. West Virginia comes a close second with two cities ranking in the bottom. Those cities are over 90% white while Hialeah, Florida boasts a near 100% Hispanic, Spanish-speaking and foreign-born population in all categories.
Most Culturally Diverse Cities Least Culturally Diverse Cities
1 Jersey City, NJ
2 Germantown, MD
3 Gaithersburg, MD
4 Silver Spring, MD
5 Spring Valley, NV
6 New York, NY
7 Oakland, CA
8 San Jose, CA
9 Rockville, MD
10 Kent, WA
492 Miles City, MT
493 Laconia, NH
494 Bennington, VT
495 Barre, VT
496 Jamestown, ND
497 Rutland, VT
498 Hialeah, FL
499 Watertown, SD
500 Clarksburg, WV
501 Parkersburg, WV
Here are some other Key Stats to consider:
Oakland, Calif., has the highest racial and ethnic diversity, which is four times higher than in Hialeah, Fla., the city with the lowest.
Hialeah, Fla. has the highest concentration of Hispanics or Latinos, 95.64 percent.
Rutland, Vt. has the highest concentration of whites, at 95.45 percent.
Gary, Ind., has the highest concentration of blacks, at 81.41 percent.
Hialeah, Fla., has the highest concentration of Spanish speakers, 92.25 percent.
Waipahu, Hawaii, has the highest concentration of speakers of Asian and Pacific Islander languages, 49.18 percent.
Greenville, Miss., has the highest share of population born in their state of residence, 87.16 percent.
Hialeah, Fla., has the highest foreign-born population, 72.75 percent.
To view the full report and your city’s rank, please visit: