Arizona appeared as one of the 10 states with major diversity in the United States in a September report by the financial company WalletHub where they ranked all states from most to least diverse. 

“The American narrative is a story of diversity,” said WalletHub in its report. And what is the clearest proof of this narrative? A record of data that doesn’t lie. 

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, from 2010 to 2020, the diversity index increased from 54.9% to 61.1%. But the growth doesn’t end there, as it is projected that by 2045 there will no longer be a single ethnic majority in the country. However, diversity varies from state to state and can be defined as something that goes beyond race, gender, or ethnicity. 

“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.” 

To conduct their study, WalletHub compared the 50 states of the country across six key dimensions: socio-economic diversity, cultural diversity, economic diversity, household diversity, religious diversity, and political diversity. 

Do you know how diverse the state you live in is? Take a look at the results of WalletHub’s report. 

10 most diverse states in the United States 

The 10 most diverse states in the country, according to WalletHub are: 

1. California 
2. Texas 
3. New Mexico 
4. Florida 
5. Nevada 
6. New York 
7. New Jersey 
8. Hawaii 
9. Maryland 
10. Arizona 

10 least diverse states in the United States 

The 10 least diverse states in the country, according to WalletHub are: 

50. West Virginia 

49. Maine 

48. New Hampshire 

47. Vermont 

46. Montana 

45. Kentucky 

44. Wyoming 

43. Iowa 

42. Utah 

41. North Dakota 

40. Wisconsin 

How did they determine the most and least diverse states in the United States? 

To determine the most and least diverse states in the country, WalletHub compared all 50 states across six key dimensions: socio-economic diversity, cultural diversity, economic diversity, household diversity, religious diversity, and political diversity. 

These dimensions were evaluated using 14 relevant metrics on a 100-point scale (100 being the highest score). Then, a weighted average of all metrics was calculated to determine each state’s overall score, which was used to rank the states from most to least diverse. 

The metrics analyzed included: 

Socio-economic diversity

• Household-income diversity 
• Educational-attainment diversity 

Cultural diversity 

• Racial and ethnic diversity 
• Linguistic diversity 
• Birthplace diversity 

Economic diversity 

• Industry diversity 
• Occupational diversity 
• Worker-class diversity 

Household diversity 

• Marital-status diversity 
• Generational diversity 
• Household-type diversity 
• Household-size diversity 

Religious diversity 

• Evangelical Protestant, Mainline Protestant, Black Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, other or unaffiliated 

Political diversity 

• Conservative, moderate, liberal, unclaimed 

What were Arizona’s results? 

Arizona occupied the 10th overall place in the list. In addition, other of its metrics and their respective placements were: 

• Eighth in income diversity 
• 19th in educational-attainment diversity 
• 11^th in Racial and Ethnic Diversity 
• Ninth in linguistic diversity 
• Third in birthplace diversity 
• Ninth in industry diversity 
• 30th in worker-class diversity 
• 17th in marital-status diversity 
• Sixth in generational diversity 
• 10th in household-type diversity 
• 10th in household-size diversity