Do you feel that Philadelphia is more diverse than San Francisco?

[killakoolaide]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

I dont know where you got these percentages from, but according to the 2010 Census:

Philadelphia, PA
White 41.1%
Black 39.9%
Hispanic 10.5%
Asian 6.5%
Multiracial 1.5%
American Indian 0.2%
Some other race 0.2%
Pacific Island 0.0%

San Francisco, CA
White 44.2%
Asian 32.8%
Hispanic 14.0%
Black 5.6%
Multiracial 2.5%
Pacific Islander 0.3%
Some other race 0.3%
American Indian 0.2%

Statistically speaking, San Francisco is still more racially diverse than Philadelphia using this formula:


Its really quite simple:

Philadelphia, CA
White 41.1% 0.168
Black 39.9% 0.159
Hispanic 10.5% 0.011
Asian 6.5% 0.004

0.168 + 0.159 + 0.011 + 0.004 = 0.342

1 minus 0.342 = 0.658

In other words, there's a 65.8% chance that the next person in Philadephia you come into contact with is going to be a different race from yourself.

San Francisco, CA
White 44.2% .195
Asian 32.8% .107
Hispanic 14.0% 0.019
Black 5.6% 0.003

0.195 + 0.159 + 0.011 + 0.003 = 0.324

1 minus 0.324 = 0.676

In other words, there's a 67.6% chance that the next person in San Francisco you come into contact with is going to be a different race from yourself.

Not a huge difference, but SF edges out Philadelphia if we're being mathematical about it.

The thing that jumps out at me is the multi-racial stat, its hard to believe that a city with a much higher black percentage has a lower percentage of multi-racial even if only by the fact that black americans are mulattic to varying degrees, by their very nature.

With that said, from an aesthetic level Philly looks more diverse because black people are far more genetically diverse, and thus is far more varied in appearance and even culture, than many people, with limited experience, assume.