Census results show Indiana's growing diversity.

• Author: Kinghorn, Matt

The latest data release from the 2020 Census shows that Indiana's population continues to become more diverse. In fact, one-quarter of Hoosiers identified as part of a minority race or ethnic group in 2020, up from nearly 19% a decade earlier. Indiana is also becoming more diverse from the ground up, as the state's population under the age of 18 is far more diverse than the adult population.

Before diving into the numbers, it is important to highlight that the U.S. Census Bureau made some significant changes to the way it collected and processed responses on racial and ethnic identity in 2020. According to the bureau, these improvements provide a much better picture of the true racial and ethnic makeup of our population. (1) However, these changes also mean that the 2020 population counts by race and ethnicity are not directly comparable to those from previous censuses, and such comparisons can be misleading without proper context.

That said, the pull to make these comparisons anyway is just too strong. So, when looking at changes over time, it's best to view these shifts as revealing two stories at once: that Indiana continues to grow more diverse, and that the state has long been more diverse than we previously understood. Unfortunately, there is no way to know how much of the shift in any race or ethnic group represents true demographic change and how much is a product of data collection and processing improvements.

Indiana's growing diversity

Among Indiana's largest race and ethnic groups, the largest shifts over the decade were seen in residents who identify as either multi-race or white. (2) As Figure 1 shows, the number of Hoosiers who identified as being multiracial increased by 165,979 residents between 2010 and 2020--a 167% increase. Meanwhile, the number of residents identifying as white declined by 165,449 (-3.1% difference) between the censuses. Although it is not possible to know for certain, the Census Bureau's methodological changes likely had their largest impacts on the shifts seen in these two groups.

With an increase of 164,484 residents over the decade (a 42.2% difference), the state's Hispanic population posted the second-largest gain, while the number of Hoosiers who are Asian and Black increased by 65,207 (64.3%) and 55,360 (9.5%), respectively.

Figure 1: Difference in Indiana population by race and ethnic group, 2010 to 2020 Multi-race 165,979 Hispanic 164,484 Asian 65,207 Black 55,360 Other race 16,145 White...