By the BestNeighborhood data science team. Last updated September 25, 2026.

Enter a city or zip code to see the racial and ethnic makeup and diversity score for any city, zip code, or neighborhood in the US:

Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the US

The United States scores 61.3 on BestNeighborhood’s diversity score, based on the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) 2020–2024 5-year estimates. The score is the chance, out of 100, that two residents picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.

Big cities are more diverse than the country as a whole. 60 of the 91 US cities with at least 250,000 residents score above the national figure. Oakland, CA is the most diverse big city, at 77.1. Laredo, TX is the least diverse, at 9.5.

Most and Least Diverse Big Cities

These lists rank the 91 US cities with at least 250,000 residents by diversity score. Each link opens that city’s race and diversity page, which breaks down its population and maps diversity neighborhood by neighborhood.

10 most diverse big cities

10 least diverse big cities

In the most diverse cities, no single group makes up half of the population. In Oakland, Jersey City, and Sacramento, the largest group is under 30% of residents.

The least diverse big cities each have one dominant group, and that group varies. Hispanic residents are the majority in six of the 10, including Laredo, where they make up 95% of the population. Detroit is 75% Black. Lincoln, Madison, and Lexington are majority white.

How the Diversity Score Works

The score sorts every resident into one of six groups: Hispanic or Latino of any race; non-Hispanic White; non-Hispanic Black; non-Hispanic Asian; non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native; and all other residents. The last group includes Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander residents, people of another race, and people of two or more races.

A score of 0 means every resident belongs to the same group. The highest possible score is 83.3, reached only when all six groups are exactly equal in size. A score in the 70s marks a place with several large groups and no majority.

Statisticians call this measure the Gini-Simpson index. The same score drives the diversity setting in BestNeighborhood’s Best Neighborhoods rankings.

The score measures the mix of groups in a place. It does not measure how integrated neighborhoods are, and a city can score high overall while its neighborhoods stay separated. For that reason each city page maps the score neighborhood by neighborhood.

How the Census Bureau counts race and ethnicity

The survey asks two separate questions: one about Hispanic or Latino origin and one about race. Each person answers for themselves. The Census Bureau treats Hispanic or Latino origin as an ethnicity, so Hispanic residents can be of any race. This page follows the Census Bureau’s standard table for that split, table B03002.

Where These Numbers Come From

The population counts on this page come directly from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, table B03002. It is the most recent release available as of September 2026. BestNeighborhood computes the diversity score from those counts and updates this page when the Census Bureau publishes each new release.

The survey reaches about 3.5 million addresses a year. A 5-year estimate pools the answers from 2020 through 2024. Pooling five years gives enough answers to report on small areas, down to single neighborhoods.

The city figures above cover each city’s legal limits as the Census Bureau draws them. For several of the largest cities, the linked city page describes the whole metro area, so its figures differ from the ones above.

Every survey estimate has a margin of error. For cities this large, the margin is small next to the gaps between cities. For a single neighborhood the margin is wider, so treat small differences between neighborhoods as ties.

Race and Diversity by State

Sources

U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-Year Estimates, Table B03002: Hispanic or Latino Origin by Race. data.census.gov
U.S. Census Bureau, About the Topic of Race. census.gov
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey: About the ACS. census.gov

Compiled by the BestNeighborhood data science team from U.S. Census Bureau data. The diversity score is computed from the Census Bureau’s published population counts, with no other adjustment.

Racial, Ethnicity, and Diversity by Area