Maryland Ranked Seventh Most Diverse State in U.S.

A new study that looks at diversity in states across the country ranks Maryland seventh for the fourth straight year.

The finance website, WalletHub.com, ranks Texas (#2), Hawaii (#3), New Jersey (#4), New York (#5), New Mexico (#6), Maryland (#7), Florida (#8), Nevada (#9), and Arizona (#10) in the top 10 most diverse states.

The number one most diverse state on the list is California.

The five least diverse states are Montana (#46), New Hampshire (#47), Vermont (#48), Maine (#49) and West Virginia (#50).

WalletHub compared the 50 states in six key categories of diversity: socio-economic, cultural, economic, household, religious and political diversity.

A score for “socioeconomic diversity” was based on household income and educational attainment. The score for “cultural diversity” was based on population races and ethnicities, languages that are spoken, and birthplace. The score for “economic diversity” was based on industries, occupations, and worker classes.

A weighted score was calculated for each of the six key categories.  The states were then ranked based on their total score.

Maryland ranked second for socioeconomic diversity, tenth for culture, and tenth for household diversity.

Data used in the report were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA), and American Values Atlas (AVA). Find more information on this study at the WalletHub website.

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