Updated: 2010 Census, Racial/Ethnic Diversity: City of Portland Ranks 8th Out of 25 Cities In Metro Council's Jurisdiction.

Update: Added comparison between Portland and Detroit diversity index values, see observations below
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For several years USA Today has used a diversity index to compare racial and ethnic diversity across the US; a racial/ethnic diversity index: 

" ..measures the probability that any two people chosen at random from a given census area are of different races or ethnicities." 

Nearing Fair Housing Month, I thought it would be useful to focus on newly released Census 2010 racial and ethnic data on diversity in the 25 cities within the jurisdiction of the Portland Metro Council. (Note this does NOT include Vancouver or other cities in the Portland metro area that are outside the land use jurisdiction of the Metro Council). 

The one page sorted and ranked diversity index table I constructed using USA Today data is HERE; it includes a link to the USA Today source page where I got the data.

Some observations: 

1. The City of Portland diversity index value ranks 8th among 25 cities in the Metro Council's jurisdiction.
2. In descending order, the cities with the HIGHEST diversity index values in the Metro Council jurisdiction are: Wood Village, Cornelius, Hillsboro, Beaverton, and Fairview. 
3. The cities in the Metro Council jurisdiction with the 5 LOWEST diversity index values (from worst to least worse) are Rivergrove,Damascus, West Linn, Oregon City,Lake Oswego.  
4. 12 of 25 cities in the Metro Council jurisdiction had a LOWER diversity index than the statewide average. (US average not yet available as redistricting information on all states has not yet been released).
5. The City of Portland diversity index value of 46.8 is significantly HIGHER than the diversity index value for my home town of Detroit, MI. (35.5).

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.