How racially and ethnically mixed public schools are, by state
The average U.S. public school scored 43.5 of 100 on the Simpson diversity index in 2024-25: the chance, in percent, that two students picked at random are of different races or ethnicities. The average school was most mixed in Hawaii (69.6) and least mixed in West Virginia (17.9).
NCES Common Core of Data 2024-25 membership by race and ethnicity · schools open that year · this page first published · data checked · method
Diversity index, average school
- 17.9 to under 33.8
- 33.8 to under 39.0
- 39.0 to under 44.7
- 44.7 to under 51.2
- 51.2 and up
D.C. is one city system, so it is in the table but not ranked among the 50 states.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data 2024-25: membership by race and ethnicity, by school.
Most mixed: the top ten
Least mixed: the bottom ten
The question and the method
How racially and ethnically mixed are public-school student bodies, and how much does that differ by state? Across all 51 state systems, what is the average school's diversity, and where is it highest and lowest?
For each school, one minus the sum of squared shares of its students in the seven NCES race and ethnicity groups, times 100; the state figure is the mean over its open schools that report membership by race (93,628 schools nationally).
Limits. The index captures mix, not quality, opportunity or integration: two schools with the same index can have very different compositions, and a high index does not mean students of different backgrounds learn in the same classes. State averages weight every reporting school equally regardless of size, and a state whose population is mostly one group scores low even where its schools mirror their towns.
Every state
All 51 as a table
| State | Rank | Diversity index, average school | Schools |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | 1 | 69.6 | 295 |
| Delaware | 2 | 61.3 | 222 |
| Oklahoma | 3 | 59.6 | 1,754 |
| Nevada | 4 | 56.4 | 718 |
| North Carolina | 5 | 56.1 | 2,651 |
| Virginia | 6 | 53.7 | 1,844 |
| Washington | 7 | 53.3 | 2,402 |
| South Carolina | 8 | 52.7 | 1,183 |
| Florida | 9 | 52.3 | 3,892 |
| Maryland | 10 | 52.3 | 1,369 |
| New Jersey | 11 | 51.2 | 2,474 |
| Connecticut | 12 | 50.5 | 987 |
| Georgia | 13 | 50.0 | 2,285 |
| Massachusetts | 14 | 47.3 | 1,791 |
| Arizona | 15 | 47.2 | 2,067 |
| Colorado | 16 | 47.1 | 1,860 |
| Oregon | 17 | 47.1 | 1,264 |
| Rhode Island | 18 | 47.0 | 300 |
| California | 19 | 46.0 | 9,864 |
| New York | 20 | 45.5 | 4,763 |
| Texas | 21 | 44.7 | 8,755 |
| Louisiana | 22 | 43.9 | 1,276 |
| Alaska | 23 | 43.0 | 480 |
| Minnesota | 24 | 42.8 | 2,276 |
| Alabama | 25 | 42.5 | 1,351 |
| Mississippi | 26 | 41.1 | 837 |
| Utah | 27 | 40.9 | 1,041 |
| Arkansas | 28 | 40.4 | 1,039 |
| New Mexico | 29 | 39.8 | 855 |
| Kansas | 30 | 39.4 | 1,323 |
| Indiana | 31 | 39.0 | 1,815 |
| Illinois | 32 | 38.9 | 3,812 |
| Tennessee | 33 | 38.3 | 1,803 |
| Pennsylvania | 34 | 37.3 | 2,893 |
| Idaho | 35 | 36.3 | 760 |
| Michigan | 36 | 36.2 | 3,309 |
| Wisconsin | 37 | 35.7 | 2,142 |
| Ohio | 38 | 35.3 | 3,455 |
| Nebraska | 39 | 34.9 | 989 |
| Kentucky | 40 | 34.5 | 1,376 |
| Iowa | 41 | 33.8 | 1,286 |
| District of Columbia | not ranked | 33.3 | 240 |
| Wyoming | 42 | 33.2 | 333 |
| Missouri | 43 | 31.0 | 2,285 |
| North Dakota | 44 | 29.7 | 485 |
| South Dakota | 45 | 27.6 | 665 |
| New Hampshire | 46 | 24.3 | 483 |
| Montana | 47 | 23.6 | 814 |
| Maine | 48 | 20.6 | 552 |
| Vermont | 49 | 19.5 | 283 |
| West Virginia | 50 | 17.9 | 630 |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data 2024-25: membership by race and ethnicity, by school.
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Sources
Source: NCES Common Core of Data Membership by race and ethnicity · 2024-25