For the second year running, a nationwide survey is placing Kentucky among the least diverse states in the country.
The results are part of the personal finance website WalletHub's 2018 Most and Least Diverse States in Americalisting, which tracks U.S. Census data in six categories: socio-economic, cultural, economic, household, religious, and political diversity.
Analyst Jill Gonzales says Kentucky’s low numbers – which averaged to 45th in 2017 as well – owe primarily to data classified as socio-economic and cultural.
"In terms of socio-economics, that basically looks at two things: household income, which in Kentucky we don't see a huge variance in, as well as educational attainment," she explains. "And then when it comes to cultural diversity, we look at racial and ethnic diversities, so how many whites versus blacks versus asians versus hispanics. Not too much change there. And the same can be said for languages spoken and where people were born."
California won the title of most diverse state in the survey while West Virginia was rated the least diverse.
The 2018 report comes as the University of Kentucky faces a double-digit drop in black enrollment. Despite a push for more diversity, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports the school enrolled 50 fewer black freshmen for the fall semester.
