Annual Montgomery County Fair in Gaithersburg, Md. Photo by Daniel Reidel

Annual Montgomery County Fair in Gaithersburg, Md. Photo by Daniel Reidel

The cities surrounding D.C. are among the most diverse in the country, according to a new study by Wallethub. Gaithersburg, in fact, ranked first for diversity on a list of more than 300 cities across the country.

Three other Maryland locales—Silver Spring, Germantown, and Frederick—placed in the top 10. D.C. ranked 122 on the list. Alexandria, Va. is 45 and Arlington is 133.

The list, Most Diverse Cities in America, looked at an area’s social class diversity, ethno-racial diversity, economic diversity, and household diversity. Only 10 cities were allowed per state. The analysis was completed using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index method.

In terms of categories, Gaithersburg came in first as the most racially diverse city and second in social class diversity, which looked at household incomes and education levels of residents. Coming in at 84, it ranked much lower in household diversity, which took into account things like age and marital status of residents. And it ranked the lowest, number 216, in the economic diversity category, which looked at the variance of industries that residents work in, the types of positions they hold, and more. But after averaging the scores, Gaithersburg still came out on top.

Wallethub also broke down the cities by size. Gaithersburg is considered a small city, with fewer than 100,000 residents. On that list, Rockville and Waldorf join the other Maryland cities that are in the overall top 10.

Source: WalletHub