Description of the Indicator
The Racial and Ethnic Diversity indicator is a composition of the total population reported by race and ethnicity. The data is collected from the Decennial Census and the American Community Survey 5-year estimates.
Why is it important?
The Race and Ethnicity indicator is important because it relates to a region’s culture and heritage. Understanding the population’s composition of race and ethnicity is necessary for planning and equitable allocation of resources.
How is the region performing?
Since 1990, the region and the state have undergone significant changes in their compositions of race and ethnicity.
Both the region and state experienced the largest changes in composition pertaining to people who are White, Non-Hispanic and Hispanic/Latino of any race. From 1990 to 2022, the share of White, non-Hispanic residents dropped 16.2 percentage points in Lackawanna County, 20.5 percentage points in Luzerne County, and 8.9 percentage points in Wayne County. Hispanic/Latino residents of any race increased 8.5 percentage points in Lackawanna County, 14.5 percentage points in Luzerne County, and four percentage points in Wayne County.