I am fascinated with cultural diversity, as I live in one of the most diverse metro areas in the States (DC) but live in a very "white-bread" suburb (Falls Church City-Greater Falls Church is very diverse, just not the city itself). So what city or town out West is most diverse outside of California (just because California is obviously parsecs ahead of the rest of the West when it comes to diversity)-and give me examples of cultural groups there? By the areas I define when I say "West", I mean the Plains States, the Southwest, the Mountain States, the Pacific Northwest, and Alaska.

Depends. In terms of overseas cultures, then Seattle by far, mostly due to various Asian cultures. The states closer to Mexico have much larger Mexican populations. Native American populations tend to be significant across the West. African American populations tend to be very low by NE or SE standards, but there are some strong (if smaller) communities in all the larger metros.

Seattle,Portland,Phoenix,Denver!any others?

If Texas counts I would say Houston, but if not then I guess Seattle.

If Texas counts I would say Houston, but if not then I guess Seattle.


Among the Western metros, Las Vegas also ranks very high as far as its mix of racial-ethnic diversity.

You said outside California but you didn't say it had to be inside America. So it's Toronto, ON.

You said outside California but you didn't say it had to be inside America. So it's Toronto, ON.

Most Diverse City/Town in the Western US Outside of California?

He did say Western US.... so that rules out Toronto.

Salt Lake City

Why Include Alaska, with some towns having large percentage of Pre-Columbian peoples, but not very diverse Hawaii, which is also considered to be in the West?

The usual suspects in larger cities being Seattle, Phoenix, maybe Albuquerque, Las Vegas, and Denver.

Ofc, there are the smaller populated towns, like Barrow that are more "diverse" than any of the large cities.

By diverse do you mean a big mix of several ethnicities, or just a lot of one ethnicity (which by definition isn't diversity anyway)?

Seattle is very diverse.

Albuquerque is very diverse. Non hispanic whites are less than 50% of the city with hispanics, native americans, blacks and asians making up the difference. And it isn't 'stealth diversity' here. We are extremely tolerant of various ethnicities and we don't hide our diversity like many cities where there is a distinct racial divide.

Seattle. That is one of reasons why I moved to Seattle more than five years ago. I love diversity.

Seattle,Portland,Phoenix,Denver!any others?

You pretty much hit the nail on the head. I'd add Vegas too.

Among the Western metros, Las Vegas also ranks very high as far as its mix of racial-ethnic diversity.

I was gonna mention that one...

Salt Lake City

How is Salt Lake City diverse? Last time I checked it was nearly 80% white with the Hispanics and Tongans filling in for the rest of the percentages.

Honolulu, Hawaii or any other Hawaiian cities and towns.

I did not know why I did not think of this earlier but Aurora, CO (a Denver suburb) would actually fit this bill. They have a sizable hispanic/black population, along with a Vietnamese and Korean business district plus they have a growing Ethiopian population.

Aurora looks fairly diverse. But the percentage of people born overseas is fairly low, with just 7.1% in the 2008 ACS. Seattle by contrast was 14.3% born overseas. Denver was 5.5%. (By "overseas" I'm excluding Latin America and Canada, realizing that my definition is arguable.)

I'm not arguing that diversity is dependent on enough people being born overseas. It's a factor in the types of diversity though.

I think Seattle is The clear cut winner here!

Some city in Hawaii?