It doesn't show in the online version, but the subheading of the article caught my eye: "The (Portland) metro area is less diverse than most -- even Salt Lake City."
Whiter than --- gasp! --- Salt Lake City!?!
I point this out here just to illustrate one example of external perceptions of Utah; and how those perceptions are not always on the mark. The Oregonian's headline writer is clearly shocked --- shocked! --- that Portland could possibly be whiter than Salt Lake. But as the article recounts, census data shows that SLC is not the least diverse city in America.
As I've noted here maybe once or twice, we've seen substantial Hispanic inmigration over the past decade. I imagine the data will show this trend slowing due to the recession. But Utah is looking more and more like the rest of the Western US. Perceptions will catch up. Someday.
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SLC's metro area is 425,000 smaller than the next biggest (Nashville)--that is > 25% smaller, so it may be that SLC stands out in this cohort of the top 40. Only 4 core cities are whiter (>65%) than SLC's core city (by these numbers).
If you expand the data to count Utah county and not just SL, Davis, and Summit, you get 81.7% white, not Hispanic which moves the city up to #5 or maybe 4.
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/49/49011.html
A longitudinal instead of cross-sectional analysis might show how the perception was built and how the reality changes over time.
Follow-up: Comedian Chris Rock thinks that Utah is the whitest place in America, too.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/01/19/chris.rock.kill.the.messenger/index.html
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