Diversity at a county level

While America is called a melting pot, when broken down at the county level, whites are still the strong majority.

According to Census Bureau data compiled by The Washington Post, non-Hispanic whites accounted for at least 90 percent of the population in more than 33 percent of the nation’s counties.

The five counties (with populations above 10,000) with the highest percentage of white residents were:

• Lincoln, W.Va.
• Leslie, Ky.
• Dickenson, Va.
• Osage, Mo.
• Lewis, Ky.

The Census Bureau found Cook County, Ill., had the largest black or African-American population of any county in 2013. Harris County, Texas, had the largest numeric increase from 2012 to 2013 (18,000 individuals). Holmes, Miss., had the highest percentage increase of blacks or African-Americans in the nation (83.2 percent.)

The Washington Post reports 96 counties have a black or African-American population greater than 50 percent. Most of these counties are located in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.

Five counties, according to The Washington Post, were more than 80 percent black. These included Jefferson, Claiborne and Holmes Counties in Mississippi and Macon and Greene Counties in Alabama.

93 counties were majority Hispanic. Seven counties had Hispanic populations over 90 percent, including Starr, Webb, Maverick, Zapata, Zavala, Jim Hogg, and Hidalgo Counties in Texas, according to The Washington Post. 


The Washington Post found no counties were majority Asian in 2013. 27 counties were majority Native American, with two being more than 90 percent: Shannon County in South Dakota and the Wade Hampton Census Area in Alaska.

For visualization of the breakdown, check out an animated .gif here.

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