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Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky rank among bottom 10 in USA for diversity, survey says

Posted at 9:26 AM, Sep 19, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-19 09:37:45-04

CINCINNATI -- You probably learned long ago that the American phrase "E pluribus unum" means "Out of many, one," but a new survey claims the Tri-State is looking more unum and less pluribus.

Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio all ranked in the bottom 10 of WalletHub's new list of America's most diverse states.

Data analysts weren't merely looking at census data on race to produce their ranking. WalletHub said it compared the 50 states by socioeconomic, cultural, economic, household and religious diversity across 13 relevant metrics.

They considered elements such as educational attainment, languages spoken, household size, and marital status to produce their final ranking, which placed Indiana at 42nd, Ohio at 43rd and Kentucky at 45th in the country.

Kentucky ranked in the bottom five for income diversity and linguistic diversity while Ohio scored poorly for birthplace diversity. Indiana earned dead-last in worker-class diversity.

WalletHub said it conducted its survey "to determine where idea and identity exchanges have occurred at the highest level -- and where the population is relatively more homogeneous" since the American narrative is one of diversity.

Earlier this year, WalletHub took a look at the United States' 501 largest cities to find the most diverse. The Big Apple took top honors, and Ohio's highest ranking metro area was Columbus -- at No. 155. Cincinnati came in next for the Buckeye State at No. 278, followed by Lorain and Cleveland.

See the full results and methodology for the states' diversity ranking here and the cities' diversity ranking here.