Map Illustrates Maryland's Most Diverse Communities

The state's most diverse communities -- where there is a more than 75 percent chance, as determined by the USA Today Diversity Index, that two random residents are of different races -- are clustered between Interstate 270 and Route 50, stretching across county lines from Montgomery Village down to Colmar Manor.

The meat of Maryland's diversity is sandwiched between the Western Maryland mountains and the Eastern Shore, where the state's least diverse towns -- 100 percent white, in some cases -- are mapped.

This map shows Maryland’s 20 most diverse communities (blue icons) and 20 least diverse communities (red icons).

The diversity in Maryland's middle is no accident. In Gaithersburg, for example, the City Council has instituted policies to encourage diverse growth.

Gaithersburg requires affordable housing in new developments in order to provide options for people at different income levels, has a committee focusing on multicultural affairs -- that puts on recreational activities focusing on racial minority communities -- and hosts an annual housing fair where guidance is offered to potential homeowners, said Council Vice President Jud Ashman.

All of these policies speak to "pull factors," reasons people pick up and move into a community: Better educational and job opportunities, affordable housing and ease of establishing infrastructure, said Jeanne Batalova a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington think tank that studies the movement of people.

Business incentives also make people more likely to act as pioneers, Batalova said.

In order to promote economic development in Gaithersburg, the city offers permit fee waivers, promotes English and banking classes and maintains an economic development "toolbox" -- approximately $2.5 million for fiscal year 2011 -- to draw and retain businesses in the city, said Michael Sesma and Cathy Drzyzgula, members of the City Council.

The policies have worked: Although a hair more than 50 percent of Gaithersburg's residents are white, the black and Asian populations are nearly equal parts of the population -- around 16 percent -- and almost a quarter of residents are Hispanic.

"We've always embraced everyone," said Mayor Sidney Katz, who has served in the city government for more than three decades. "Our greatness is our partners and our people."

Katz's grandparents -- Lithuanian immigrants -- moved to Gaithersburg in 1918 because, even then, the city offered educational opportunities and municipal services that would help them attain a "better life," Katz said.

For immigrants, Batalova said, it is often the case that a few people of a certain racial or ethnic group move into a community, establish themselves and then friends and family follow.

"The (personal) network is perhaps the most powerful driving force," said Batalova.

The interactive map was generated using the USA Today diversity index, which assigns a number between 0 (no diversity) and 100 (total diversity) to signify the chance that two randomly chosen residents of a particular community will be of different races.

Maryland Newsline's Maite Fernandez contributed to this report.