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Study notes Waipahu and Hilo for ethno-racial diversity

While Honolulu is not among the most diverse of large cities in the U.S., Waipahu has the highest concentration of Asians, according to a study released by WalletHub today.

The credit score website compared more than 500 of the largest U.S. cities across three key indicators of cultural diversity, including ethnicity and race, language and birthplace. A total of 50 points was awarded for ethnoracial diversity, 33 points for linguistic diversity and 17 points for birthplace diversity, with data obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Honolulu ranked No. 21 overall among large U.S. cities, with a cultural diversity score of 76.36, far behind the top-ranked cities of New York (1), Oakland (2), San Jose (3), San Francisco (4) and San Diego (5), Calif.

Waipahu, however, was the city with the highest concentration of Asians, at 64 percent, and Hilo was the city with the highest concentration of other ethnic categories, which includes Alaska natives, American Indians, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders. Waipahu was also the city with the most linguistic diversity in Asian and Pacific Islander languages, at 50.1 percent.

A total of 53.3 percent of Hawaii’s population was born in the state, while 18.5 percent were born in a foreign nation and the rest in other parts of the U.S, according to Census data from 2016.

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