Editor’s note: This story, originally published Feb. 6, 2025, at 11:25 a.m., was updated Feb. 6, 2025, at 12:11 p.m. to include comments from Montgomery County Councilmember Marilyn Balcombe.
Four cities in Montgomery County were named among the top 10 most ethnically diverse cities across more than 500 in the U.S., with Germantown taking the top spot for 2025, according to a WalletHub study.
Gaithersburg ranked third, Silver Spring placed fourth and Rockville was ninth, according to an annual study by WalletHub, an online personal finance company based in Miami. The 2025 study reflected a change in the study results from previous years – Gaithersburg was ranked No. 1 for the past two years while Germantown placed third in 2024 and second in 2023.
“You might not expect a place named ‘Germantown’ to be very diverse, but this Maryland city is actually the most ethnically diverse place to live in the U.S.,” WalletHub said in its 2025 study results.
WalletHub uses three types of demographics to compare the diversity of more than 500 largest U.S. cities: ethno-racial, linguistic and birthplace, according to the company.
According to the study, Germantown is split almost equally between major ethno-racial groups and earned an ethnic diversity score of 73.03. Approximately round 24% of the population is white, 25% is Black, 24% is Hispanic and 22% is Asian.
Montgomery County Councilmember Marilyn Balcombe (Dist. 2), who represents Germantown, said the recognition as the most ethnically diverse city in the country was “no surprise.”
“We are a great ethnically diverse community … . Our strength comes from diversity,” Balcombe told Bethesda Today on Thursday. “It’s great to have the recognition because we’re proud of it and we want everyone to know how diverse we are.”
Germantown ranked fifth in linguistic diversity, with slightly more than 50% of the city’s population speaking only English. About 21% speak Spanish, 12% speak other Indo-European languages and 13% speak Asian or Pacific Islander languages, according to the study.
The city didn’t rank as high in birthplace diversity, ranking as No. 93, but the study noted that it’s still in the top 20% of cities in 2025.
Gaithersburg and Silver Spring earned ethnic diversity scores of 72.56 and 70.33, respectively. While Gaithersburg was ranked third overall, it earned second place in linguistic diversity.
About 47% of the population speaks only English at home in Gaithersburg, while 25% speak Spanish at home, 12% speak other Indo-European languages and 13% speak Asian or Pacific Islander languages.
Silver Spring also ranked higher in birthplace diversity, at No. 23, when compared to all of the other cities in the county.
In 2024, Germantown placed third, Silver Spring came in fourth and Rockville was eighth.
