The West has long been more diverse than the rest of the US

The National Equity Atlas Diversity Index runs from zero – in which everyone living in an area has the same racial or ethnic background – to 1.79, in which all racial and ethnic groups have equal numbers of people. The Western states continue to be more diverse than the rest of the nation, but became markedly so in the 1990s.

Chart: The Conversation, CC-BY-ND Source: National Equity Atlas Get the data