Do We Really Like Diversity?

How diverse is your community? Does it have enough differences in race, religion, class or politics? Or would you like to see more of a mix?

According to a survey from the Pew Research Center, about six in ten Americans say they’d like their communities to be more diverse. However, this stated preference comes at a time when American neighborhoods are growing more politically and  economically and homogenous, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to the report:

About six-in-ten Americans say they like the idea of living in politically, racially, religiously or economically mixed communities, while about a quarter take the opposite view: They would rather live in communities made up mostly of people like themselves. The rest say they have no strong opinion on the issue, according to a new nationwide Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends survey.

This preference for diverse communities is greater among Democrats, liberals, college graduates, blacks, and secular Americans than it is among the population as a whole. But virtually all major groups, at least to some degree, choose diversity over homogeneity when asked where they would like to live.

Despite these pro-diversity attitudes, however, American communities appear to have grown more politically and economically homogenous in recent decades, according to analyses of election returns and U.S. Census data.

Check out the breakdown of the survey’s findings — and find results of other surveys — at PewResearch.org.

I live in an economically and racially mixed neighborhood, though it seems pretty politically homogenous — judging by the yard signs that were up before Nov. 4 — and yet I think we could be a little more diverse around here. But then, I live in an urban neighborhood for this exact reason, I want the diversity. How about you? How does your life reflect your stated preference on diversity in community, and if it doesn’t, what would it take to move it in that direction?