Local News

If you had to guess, which of these two neighborhoods would you say is the more racially diverse: Capitol Hill’s hip, edgy Pike/Pine — or Bellevue’s BMW-filled, mall-packed downtown? If that setup didn’t make it completely obvious, the “surprise” answer is: downtown Bellevue. In fact, according to a well-known measure of diversity, Bellevue, overall, is a…

Is Seattle a racially diverse city? We certainly value the principle of diversity here.  But many people would probably answer that question “No” because — let’s face it — for a big American city, Seattle is pretty white (65 percent, according to the most-recent census data). And in fact, according to a well-known measure of diversity, Seattle…

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New census data show that racial and ethnic minorities have grown faster than the white population in Washington since 2010.

Non-Hispanic whites declined from 72.7 percent of the state’s total population in 2010 to 71.6 percent in 2012, according to the census.

Tukwila Station on the light rail (Photo: Seattledude, via Wikimedia Commons)

You don’t hear much about Tukwila.   Just south of Seattle, it’s a small city — only about 19,000 residents and fewer than 10 square miles — and it’s a place that many of us just pass through on I-5 or the light rail.  But here is something to think about next time you do pass through this little place.

According to a recent report from Brown University on the state of racial and ethnic diversity in America, Tukwila is the 11th most diverse city in the United States.  And Tukwila is No. 1 not just in Washington, but the entire Pacific Northwest.

What does “most diverse” mean?