Western Virginia is the least diverse state in the U.S., according to a new nationwide analysis of racial, cultural and economic inequalities in America.
Known as the Mountain State, West Virginia had the worst scores in the nation for socioeconomic and cultural diversity, and very low scores on religious and political diversity.
A report released Tuesday by WalletHub ranked each state based on six metrics of diversity: socioeconomics, culture, economics, household marital status and age groups, religion and politics.
This interactive graphic ranks the states from most (California) to least (West Virginia) diverse. Hover over the map to see how your state ranks.
By 2044, the U.S. will no longer have one ethnic majority (currently white people), and will only continue to grow in diversity, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
However, the analysis didn’t strictly look at different measures of diversity through the lens of race, but also considered overall disparities in educational achievement, income inequality and other factors.
‘Diversity is a term that is commonly used as a euphemism to mean representation of people of color, but diversity, in an inclusive sense, can mean representation of any number of important social identities such as race, gender, class, sexual orientation, age, religion, ability and more,’ said Hephzibah V. Strmic-Pawl, a professor of sociology at Manhattanville College.
‘In all accounts of diversity, however, is an underlying conversation about discrimination and oppression,’ she added.
Using the WalletHub scale, Maine was second-worst on diversity overall, ranking near the bottom on all the same factors that landed West Virginia in last place, followed by Vermont, New Hampshire, Montana and Kentucky.
At the other end of the spectrum, California was the most diverse state in the nation, ranking first for cultural diversity and third for socioeconomic diversity.
Texas came in second with top scores for cultural and religious diversity, followed by Hawaii, which ranked high on socioeconomic, cultural and economic diversity.
New Jersey came in fourth, followed by New York, New Mexico, Maryland and Florida.
When WalletHub researchers broke down the states by income diversity – regardless of race – Alaska scored the highest, with the least income inequality in the nation, followed by Maryland, Hawaii, New Hampshire and Connecticut.
The American South is home to the greatest disparities between the rich and poor, with Mississippi ranking at the bottom on that metric, followed by West Virginia, Arkansas, Alabama and Kentucky.
Researchers also compared educational attainment in terms of how many people attained degrees, finding that Massachusetts had the best scores in the U.S., followed by California, New York, Maryland and New Jersey.
Wyoming ranked last in the nation on educational attainment, followed by West Virginia, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota.
California also topped the list for most linguistic diversity in the U.S., followed by New Mexico, Texas, New Jersey and New York. West Virginia, again, ranked at the bottom, followed by Mississippi, Montana, Alabama and Kentucky.
Strmic-Pawl said that states can take steps to promote all kinds of diversity at home, which is good for the economy and communities at the local level.
‘States can encourage companies and policymakers to create community and educational programs in underrepresented communities so that they are given opportunities,’ she said. ‘Outreach programs on the public and private level have a record of success.’
She gave the example of Pensole: Footwear Design Academy of Portland, Oregon, noting that the company has successfully created jobs for people of diverse backgrounds in the shoe industry.
‘A diverse area needs to be diverse not just for the sake of diversity but as a pathway for creating equal opportunities and resources,’ Strmic-Pawl said. ‘If there is a more egalitarian society then there will be greater social innovation and social cohesion.’
At least 38 states have ‘set-aside’ programs where a certain portion of government contracts are guaranteed to go to minority businesses.
Some of those states mandate quotas for those contracts, while others treat it as a guideline.
For example, Connecticut, which ranks fourteenth on WalletHub’s scale, sets aside 25 percent of its contracts for small businesses, and 25 percent of that must be awarded to minority business enterprises, according the National Conference of State Legislatures.
New York has a target of 30 percent of contracts going to minority and women-owned businesses, and a goal of 6 percent of those going to veteran and disability owned businesses.