Ohio is becoming more diverse.
More than a decade ago, in 2011, people of color made up 18.6% of the population. By 2021, that number had grown to 22.2% 鈥� an increase of 3.6%.
But that growth did not happen equally across the state.
In fact, it happened almost entirely in Ohio鈥檚 urban and suburban areas, according to by Alex Dorman, a research fellow at The Center for Community Solutions, a nonpartisan think tank.
鈥淲hat we found in rural populations is that really the racial diversity has remained stagnant,鈥� he said.
Dorman鈥檚 findings about Ohio are consistent with : the country is becoming more racially diverse too.
And like the country, Ohio鈥檚 youngest generations are its least uniform. About a third of the state鈥檚 babies and toddlers are people of color, compared with just about 13% of the state鈥檚 seniors aged 65 and older.
Dorman posits this trend is influenced by factors like immigration, but now that it鈥檚 established, he said racial diversity is likely to continue growing.
鈥淵oung people typically grow into older people, that's usually how it works,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o in cities and more urban and suburban areas, we can make the assumption that racial diversity will continue to grow.鈥�
But since rural Ohio isn鈥檛 diversifying at the same pace, he anticipates the racial makeup of those regions will remain almost entirely white.
鈥淎nd that's only going to create a bigger divide between our rural areas and our more urban areas,鈥� Dorman said. 鈥淎s the people that comprise those areas start to look different from each other, they'll start to represent two different populations of individuals.鈥�
That could have big implications for the state, especially in regard to ongoing conversations about representation and redistricting.
鈥淲hen you grow up somewhere that is reflective of a changing racial demographic, you develop a level of comfort with it,鈥� Dorman said. 鈥淭his is your normal.鈥�
But not everyone in the state is developing that new concept of normal.
鈥淒espite us talking about the country and the state of Ohio becoming more racially diverse, that's just not the story for everyone who lives in Ohio,鈥� Dorman said, 鈥渁nd certainly not the story for the roughly 24% of Ohio's population that live in the census designated rural areas.鈥�