Just how diverse is Tennessee? See how the Volunteer State ranks compared to other U.S. states

A new report has just revealed the most and least diverse states in the country. According to WalletHub, California, Texas and Florida rank as the nation’s most diverse states, while New Hampshire, West Virginia and Maine rank as the least diverse. Tennessee landed among the middle, ranking as the 27th (65.11/100) most diverse state.

While Tennessee did rank in the top or bottom, the state has experienced an over 10% increase in diversity between 2010-2020, according to the latest data from the United States Census Bureau. In 2020, the Volunteer State’s Diversity Index reached 46.6%, a 17.1% increase from 39.8% in 2010.

That figure is only expected to rise, as the state is projected to become even more racially and ethnically diverse by 2040 when the state is projected to be home to eight million residents, according to research from the University of Tennessee Knoxville.

Beyond racial diversity, WalletHub also analyzed states’ economic, religious and political diversity.

“Race and gender are probably the first things that come to mind when people think about diversity, but there’s plenty more that makes this nation diverse,” said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo. “The most diverse states have above-average variety when it comes to people’s ages, birthplaces, languages, jobs, family structures and more. Moving to a diverse state can be an extremely enriching experience as it exposes you to new ideas and new ways of living.”

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How has Tennessee’s diversity changed within a decade?

Between 2010 and 2020, Tennessee experienced an 8.9% increase in population, or an additional 564,735 more residents. During that same time frame, the following groups experienced the highest population increases:

• Some other race alone or in combination (260,000)
• Hispanic or Latino (189,128)
• American Indian or Alaska Native alone or in combination (106,562)
• Black/African American alone or in combination (88,936)

The white alone (68,990), Asian alone (65,285) and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander alone or in combination (3,233) populations experienced the lowest increases.

The most diverse states in the country, according to WalletHub

1. California (70.77/100)
2. Texas (70.48/100)
3. Florida (69.88/100)
4. New Mexico (69.83/100)
5. Hawaii (69.77/100)
6. Nevada (69.72/100)
7. New Jersey (69.71/100)
8. New York (69.62/100
9. Maryland (69.12/100)
10. Arizona (69.10/100)

The least diverse states in the country, according to WalletHub

• Wisconsin (63.45/100)
• North Dakota (63.42/100)
• Utah (63.27/100)
• Iowa (62.88)
• Wyoming (62.81/100)
• Kentucky (62.63/100)
• Montana (62.15/100)
• Vermont (61.51/100)
• New Hampshire (60.42/100)
• Maine (60.10/100)
• West Virginia (59.72/100)

Methodology

In order to determine the most and least diverse states in the country, WalletHub compared the 50 states across six dimensions: socio-economic diversity (20 total points), cultural diversity (20 total points), economic diversity (20 total points), household diversity (20 total points), religious diversity (10 total points), and political diversity (10 total points).

WalletHub then evaluated those dimensions using 14 metrics, which include:

1. Household-income diversity (13.33 points)
2. Educational-attainment diversity (6.67 points)
3. Racial and ethnic diversity (10 points)
4. Linguistic diversity (6.67 points)
5. Birthplace diversity (3.33 points)
6. Industry diversity (12 points)
7. Occupational diversity (4 points)
8. Worker-class diversity (4 points)
9. Marital-status diversity (5 points)
10. Generational diversity (5 points)
11. Household-type diversity (5 points)
12. Household size diversity (5 points)
13. Religious diversity (10 points)
14. Political diversity (10 points)

Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale. Each state’s weighted average was then determined across all metrics to calculate its overall score and the resulting scores were used to rank-order the states. A total score of 100 represents the most diverse state.

Diana Leyva covers trending news and service journalism for The Tennessean. Contact her at Dleyva@gannett.com or follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @_leyvadiana