The Most Diverse States in America: Chip Lupo Explains WalletHub’s Findings
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/09/30
Chip Lupo is an analyst with WalletHub, a leading personal finance platform known for its in-depth reports and rankings on economic, cultural, and social issues. With expertise in data analysis and financial research, Lupo provides accessible insights into topics that shape American life, from state-by-state diversity to consumer finance trends. His work helps readers understand how economic opportunity, cultural dynamics, and demographic change intersect. At WalletHub, he contributes to research that informs public debate, supports decision-making, and sheds light on critical issues facing U.S. communities, blending statistical rigour with a practical understanding of social and economic realities.
In this interview with Scott Douglas Jacobsen, WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo discusses the findings of a new report ranking the most diverse states in America. California, Texas, New Mexico, Florida, and Nevada lead the nation in cultural, socioeconomic, and political diversity, reflecting immigration patterns and historical context. By contrast, states such as West Virginia, Maine, and Montana rank at the bottom due to rural isolation and slower demographic shifts. Lupo explains why economic and cultural diversity carry the most weight in the index, drawing on sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau, the Pew Research Center, and the ARDA. The conversation highlights America’s evolving demographic future.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: All right, once again, we are here with the informative Chip Lupo from WalletHub. He is an analyst there, so he is a professional working on a variety of subjects and is always very helpful in efficiently delivering information about some of the work they do at WalletHub. Today, we are going to discuss the most diverse states in America.
The report highlights how the American narrative is deeply intertwined with diversity, woven into the nation’s fabric. The U.S. Census Bureau predicts that by 2045, there will be no single ethnic majority in the United States. This raises questions not only about the general “mixed” category, but also about the kinds of mixtures that will exist.
In other words, by the end of the century, America will be a very beige country. With that in mind, let us go through the report from top to bottom, as that is the most straightforward way to do it. The overall ranking puts California, Texas, New Mexico, Florida, and Nevada in the top five, based on socioeconomic, cultural, economic, household, religious, and political diversity.
California ranks very strongly across most areas—No. 1 in cultural diversity and No. 1 in political diversity—with a weaker spot in religious diversity. So why do those five states stand out at the top?
Chip Lupo: Take a look at where your top states are. Visualize a map of the United States and examine the locations of California, Texas, and New Mexico: all three states share a border with Mexico.
Immigration has been a hot-button issue for the past 10 years or so, but this trend goes back much further. Diversity has long been part of the culture in these states. California, Texas, and New Mexico are right on the southern border.
Whether immigration is legal or illegal, these states embrace cultures from Mexico and other nationalities from Central and Latin America. Florida is only about 90 miles from Cuba. Nevada borders California.
So in terms of cultural diversity, it is not surprising that these states rank very high. As for economic and socioeconomic diversity, gaps can appear for many reasons—including different industry mixes and educational backgrounds—which shape how quickly people plug into local labour markets.
Jacobsen: Now, looking at the bottom five: West Virginia, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Montana. Overall, the diversity index is exceptionally tight across the United States. Many other measures form a more standard bell curve, but this one is quite compressed.
Lupo: It is quite polarizing when you compare the top and bottom states. Look at where these states are located: Montana, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and West Virginia.
These are smaller or more rural states. Montana, despite its border with Canada, remains rural and offers fewer metropolitan opportunities. West Virginia is a very rural, isolated, and mountainous state, which may not offer as many job opportunities. Tradition also plays a role. In many of these areas, people may be less receptive to rapid demographic change, and that can be generational. West Virginia ranked dead last overall and also ranked last in two of the six key dimensions (socioeconomic and cultural diversity).
Jacobsen: Now we go to the rationale. The most significant factors are socioeconomic diversity, cultural diversity, economic diversity, and household diversity. The two smaller ones are religious diversity and political diversity. The United States is one of the most surveyed populations in the world, so you can really get a fine-grained view of the U.S. population. Why is the breakdown where four categories receive 20 points each and two categories receive 10 points used when building this index in broad terms?
Lupo: In many cases, people come to this country for economic opportunity. So obviously, that is going to weigh heavily. Cultural diversity is also weighted heavily because, going back generations, immigrants came here to take part in the American Dream, but they still wanted to retain their ethnicity and identities while ingraining themselves in American culture.
If you look back a generation or two, large urban areas were often divided into neighbourhoods by ethnicity—sections of New York, for example, with Spanish, Italian, or Irish communities.
Cultural diversity has always been at the core of immigration: maintaining one’s culture while assimilating into American society. That balance is delicate, and it carries significant weight.
Socioeconomic diversity also illustrates how new arrivals are often not highly skilled at first, so it takes time for them to integrate into the workplace and find meaningful employment. That is why the index puts an emphasis there, too.
Political and religious diversity, on the other hand, do not shift as much. The United States was founded on the idea of religious freedom, so people generally arrive with their own belief systems intact. Similarly, many immigrants bring their political ideals with them, so there is not as much of a shake-up in those categories.
Jacobsen: One more point here: sources. This report is straightforward, but the primary sources are the U.S. Census Bureau, the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA), and the Pew Research Center. Why were those chosen for this analysis of diversity in the United States?
Lupo: The Census Bureau is the foundation of diversity statistics, so that is a logical choice. ARDA and Pew Research provide additional context. We try not to rely solely on government data, so we include reputable third-party sources and think tanks, such as Pew. The Census Bureau remains the backbone, though, because it provides the most detailed numbers, and it breaks them down very effectively.
Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Chip.
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