North Carolina’s biggest cities are becoming more diverse. How do they compare to U.S.?
Diversity is increasing in urban areas across the country, and North Carolina’s biggest cities are part of the trend, a new study says.
Charlotte and Raleigh became more racially and ethnically diverse from 2010 to 2018, according to U.S. News & World Report.
To come up with the findings, U.S. News says it used a diversity index and census data to evaluate the 66 most-populated cities.
The Queen City ranked No. 25 after becoming 3.8% more diverse, findings released Wednesday show. Further down on the list was Raleigh, which took the 36th spot and became 1.1% more diverse, according to the results.
Nearly 59% of the population in Raleigh is white, according to 2019 figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. Twenty-nine percent of residents are black, and 11% are Latino.
In Charlotte, nearly 50% of residents are white, Census data show, while about 35% are black and 14% are Latino.
Mecklenburg County and surrounding areas saw a rise in Hispanic residents last decade, The Charlotte Observer reported in July. That population surge was higher than for non-Hispanic whites and black people.
Statewide, census data show “minorities accounted for two-thirds of the growth between 2010 and 2018,” according to The News & Observer.
Almost 70 percent of large cities across the country have grown more diverse, according to the findings from U.S. News.
Overall, the highest diversity ranking from U.S. News went to the central California city of Stockton. The lowest score went to El Paso, Texas.
The city with the biggest jump in diversity was Detroit, while Miami saw the biggest decrease, according to the study.
