Racism in the workplace? Here’s how Idaho ranks for race-related discrimination cases
Idaho gets its fair share of flack regarding discrimination issues across the state.
This year alone, three University of Idaho law students filed a lawsuit against the university, claiming they experienced hostility, racial aggression and a lack of response by the school when discrimination claims were brought to the administrator’s attention. All three students identified as LGBTQ+; one is Black, and another is Pacific Islander.
A few months later, multiple Idaho lawmakers were unable to support a resolution to condemn racism following a racist incident in Coeur d’Alene when a group of people yelled racial slurs at the University of Utah women’s basketball team.
But it’s not all bad on the diversity front in the Gem State — in fact, the state can claim at least one point of pride.
A recent study from the employment law firm Duddy, Goodwin and Pollard found that Idaho has the second-lowest rate of race-related discrimination charges in the country. The study found that 13.8% of the state’s workplace discrimination charges are race-related, higher only than New Hampshire’s 12.9%, which was the lowest percentage in the nation.
Duddy, Goodwin and Pollard analyzed data on the number of employment discrimination charges with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission between April 2009 and March 2023.
Idaho had 969 total discrimination charges in that time frame, with 134 of them being race-related. While Idaho’s low percentage compared to other states can be seen as a positive, Duddy, Goodwin and Pollard also acknowledged that a state’s racial makeup affects the racial discrimination rate.
“There are two measurable factors we could consider when analyzing why racial charges are more predominant in some U.S. states more than others,” Jamie Goodwin, attorney for Duddy, Goodwin and Pollard, stated in a news release. “The racial makeup of that state and how litigious they tend to be with respect to actually filing discrimination charges. The states with the highest rates of race discrimination charges have a more racially diverse demographic makeup.”
According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s and analysis from Data Pandas, 82.2% of Idahoans identify as white-only, the 20th-highest total in the nation. That percentage equates to approximately 1.6 million of the state’s 1,938,996 population.
The only state with a lower percentage of race-related discrimination cases, New Hampshire, also has the fifth-highest rate of white population in the nation (91.5%).
On the flip side, Alabama tops the list for the highest race-related discrimination cases in the nation, with 18,530 of their state’s 37,388 (49.6%) discrimination cases. Incidentally, Alabama also has the 12th-lowest percentage of its population identifying as white-only (66.9%).
The best and worst states for racial discrimination
Here are the top and bottom 10 states for racial discrimination cases and the percentage of race-related cases.
States with lowest percentage of race-related discrimination cases
New Hampshire (12.9%)
Idaho (13.8%)
Maine (14.1%)
Utah (16.1%)
Wyoming (16.3%)
New Mexico (19%)
Oregon (19.2%)
Vermont (21.7%)
Nebraska (21.9%)
West Virginia (21.9%)
States with highest percentage of race-related discrimination cases
Alabama (49.6%)
Louisiana (45.3%)
Mississippi (45%)
Arkansas (42.1%)
Georgia (40.8%)
South Carolina (39.5%)
North Carolina (38.7%)
Tennessee (38.7%)
Maryland (37.5%)
Missouri (36.9%)
