The Diversity Index is a scale of 0 to 100 that represents the likelyhood that two persons, chosen at random from the same area, belong to different race or ethnic groups. If an area's entire population belongs to one race AND one ethnic group, then the area has zero diversity. An area's diversity index increases to 100 when the population is evenly divided into two or more race/ethnic groups.
| County | Diversity Index | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Madison County | 13.5 |
| 2. | Clay County | 17.6 |
| 3. | Haywood County | 18.4 |
| 4. | Watauga County | 18.9 |
| 5. | Ashe County | 19.8 |
| 6. | Stokes County | 20.0 |
| 7. | Cherokee County | 20.4 |
| 8. | Yancey County | 21.2 |
| 9. | Transylvania County | 21.4 |
| 10. | Mitchell County | 23.9 |
| 11. | Currituck County | 26.5 |
| 12. | Macon County | 26.8 |
| 13. | Avery County | 26.9 |
| 14. | Dare County | 28.3 |
| 15. | Carteret County | 28.4 |
| 16. | Polk County | 28.4 |
| 17. | Alexander County | 29.6 |
| 18. | Caldwell County | 30.2 |
| 19. | Graham County | 30.2 |
| 20. | McDowell County | 30.7 |
