Maryland, one of the two states in the country to flip from majority White to majority non-White over the last decade, is now the most diverse state on the East Coast, according to new data from the 2020 Census. Meanwhile, the District continued to lose Black residents — an exodus that has accelerated over the last 10 years.

Overall, the region’s population grew by 12.9 percent to 6.6 million, less than in past decades. Loudoun County led Northern Virginia and the metro area with an increase of 38.4 percent, while in the Maryland suburbs of D.C., Howard County grew the most, 15.8 percent.



Keeping with national trends that saw the number of White people in the U.S. fall and the White share of the population dip below 60 percent for the first time since 1790, population growth in the D.C. region has been driven largely by people of color.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s diversity index — which measures the likelihood that two people chosen at random would be from different racial and ethnic groups — Maryland is now one of the most diverse states in the nation, surpassed only by Nevada, California and Hawaii.

Nevada also was the only other state in the country to become majority non-White over the last decade.

The change in Maryland’s demographic makeup was driven by growing Asian and Latino populations in the District’s inner suburbs and areas around Baltimore.