Billings is the One of the Least Ethnically Diverse Cities in the United States
The United States is very well known for the diversity of its population, with places like Ellis Island in New York City welcoming over 12 million immigrants from across the world. With a large number of ethnic groups across the country, some cities have more diversity than others and Billings just happens to be one of the cities that don't have a lot of residents of multiple ethnic groups.
Bottom 100 Out of Over 500 Cities
According to a study from WalletHub.com, out of 501 cities across the United States, Billings lies at number 436. Three statistics were used to figure out the scores of the cities involved; ethno-racial diversity (how many races are within the population), linguistic diversity (how many languages are spoken within the population), and birthplace diversity (how much of the population was born there).
The map above shows all the cities within the study. The more purple a city is, the more diverse its population is. You can see that Montana has many light blue circles, which indicates a less diverse population. As it turns out, as a state, Montana cities rank consistently in the bottom 100 in this study.
Why is Montana Less Diverse Than Other Cities?
The answer may lie in the statistics used to calculate the city's score. Billings, for example, ranked 474th in linguistic diversity and 428th in ethno-racial diversity. Butte actually ranks lower than Billings in all three categories, scoring 476th, 493rd, and 415th in the three categories respectively.
Is having less diversity in our cities a bad thing? Maybe not to a good majority of Montanans. What do you think? Let us know on social media.