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Study Ranks America’s Most Liberal and Conservative Cities.
A new nationwide study released by the nonpartisan Bay Area Center for Voting Research (BACVR) ranks the political leanings of every American city and finds that Detroit, Michigan is the most liberal and Provo, Utah the most conservative.
In all, the BACVR researchers examined voting patterns of 237 American cities with populations of over 100,000 and ranked them each on liberal and conservative scales.
The list of America’s most liberal cities is dominated by cities with large African American populations that are concentrated in the Northeast, Midwest and California.
Conversely, the study found that the staunchest conservative cities are clustered in the South and interior West and have extremely low numbers of African American residents.
“Detroit, MI, and Provo, UT, epitomize America’s political, economic and racial polarization,” says Peter Thai, a BACVR researcher. “As the most conservative city in America, Provo is overwhelmingly white and solidly middle class. This is in stark contrast to Detroit, which is impoverished, black and the most liberal.”
Gary, Indiana, a rust belt former steel town, comes in as America’s second most liberal city, followed by Berkeley, California, which ranks third. Washington, D.C. comes in as the fourth most liberal and Oakland, California comes in fifth.
On the list of the nation’s most conservative cities, Texas cements its reputation as America’s most rock-ribbed state, having three cities in the top five. Lubbock and Abilene, Texas rank as the second and third most conservative cities, respectively, followed by Hialeah, Florida in fourth place and Plano, Texas in fifth.
BACVR researchers found a direct correlation between a city’s political ideology and its racial makeup. “The great political divide in America today is not red vs. blue, north vs. south, costal vs. interior or even rich vs. poor – it is now clearly black vs. white,” says Phil Reiff, a BACVR director.
“While there are a few liberal cities without large African American populations, these wind up being the exceptions. College towns like Berkeley and Cambridge have modest black populations but remain bastions of upper middle-class, white, intellectual liberalism. These liberal white communities, however, are more reminiscent of penguins clustering together around a shrinking iceberg than of a vibrant and growing political movement,” Reiff says.
The Bay Area Center for Voting Research is a nonpartisan think tank based in Berkeley, California. A full copy of the report and the complete list of rankings for all 237 cities are available at http://www.votingresearch.org
America’s 25 Most Liberal Cities (in descending order)
1. Detroit, Michigan
2. Gary, Indiana
3. Berkeley, California
4. Washington, D.C. Dist. of Columbia
5. Oakland, California
6. Inglewood, California
7. Newark, New Jersey
8. Cambridge, Massachusetts
9. San Francisco, California
10. Flint, Michigan
11. Cleveland, Ohio
12. Hartford, Connecticut
13. Paterson, New Jersey
14. Baltimore, Maryland
15. New Haven, Connecticut
16. Seattle, Washington
17. Chicago, Illinois
18. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
19. Birmingham, Alabama
20. St. Louis, Missouri
21. New York, New York
22. Providence, Rhode Island
23. Minneapolis, Minnesota
24. Boston, Massachusetts
25. Buffalo, New York
America’s 25 Most Conservative Cities(in descending order)
1. Provo, Utah
2. Lubbock, Texas
3. Abilene, Texas
4. Hialeah, Florida
5. Plano, Texas
6. Colorado Springs, Colorado
7. Gilbert, Arizona
8. Bakersfield, California
9. Lafayette, Louisiana
10. Orange, California
11. Escondido, California
12. Allentown, Pennsylvania
13. Mesa, Arizona
14. Arlington, Texas
15. Peoria, Arizona
16. Cape Coral, Florida
17. Garden Grove, California
18. Simi Valley, California
19. Corona, California
20. Clearwater, Florida
21. West Valley City, Utah
22. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
23. Overland Park, Kansas
24. Anchorage, Alaska
25. Huntington Beach, California
A new nationwide study released by the nonpartisan Bay Area Center for Voting Research (BACVR) ranks the political leanings of every American city and finds that Detroit, Michigan is the most liberal and Provo, Utah the most conservative.
In all, the BACVR researchers examined voting patterns of 237 American cities with populations of over 100,000 and ranked them each on liberal and conservative scales.
The list of America’s most liberal cities is dominated by cities with large African American populations that are concentrated in the Northeast, Midwest and California.
Conversely, the study found that the staunchest conservative cities are clustered in the South and interior West and have extremely low numbers of African American residents.
“Detroit, MI, and Provo, UT, epitomize America’s political, economic and racial polarization,” says Peter Thai, a BACVR researcher. “As the most conservative city in America, Provo is overwhelmingly white and solidly middle class. This is in stark contrast to Detroit, which is impoverished, black and the most liberal.”
Gary, Indiana, a rust belt former steel town, comes in as America’s second most liberal city, followed by Berkeley, California, which ranks third. Washington, D.C. comes in as the fourth most liberal and Oakland, California comes in fifth.
On the list of the nation’s most conservative cities, Texas cements its reputation as America’s most rock-ribbed state, having three cities in the top five. Lubbock and Abilene, Texas rank as the second and third most conservative cities, respectively, followed by Hialeah, Florida in fourth place and Plano, Texas in fifth.
BACVR researchers found a direct correlation between a city’s political ideology and its racial makeup. “The great political divide in America today is not red vs. blue, north vs. south, costal vs. interior or even rich vs. poor – it is now clearly black vs. white,” says Phil Reiff, a BACVR director.
“While there are a few liberal cities without large African American populations, these wind up being the exceptions. College towns like Berkeley and Cambridge have modest black populations but remain bastions of upper middle-class, white, intellectual liberalism. These liberal white communities, however, are more reminiscent of penguins clustering together around a shrinking iceberg than of a vibrant and growing political movement,” Reiff says.
The Bay Area Center for Voting Research is a nonpartisan think tank based in Berkeley, California. A full copy of the report and the complete list of rankings for all 237 cities are available at http://www.votingresearch.org
America’s 25 Most Liberal Cities (in descending order)
1. Detroit, Michigan
2. Gary, Indiana
3. Berkeley, California
4. Washington, D.C. Dist. of Columbia
5. Oakland, California
6. Inglewood, California
7. Newark, New Jersey
8. Cambridge, Massachusetts
9. San Francisco, California
10. Flint, Michigan
11. Cleveland, Ohio
12. Hartford, Connecticut
13. Paterson, New Jersey
14. Baltimore, Maryland
15. New Haven, Connecticut
16. Seattle, Washington
17. Chicago, Illinois
18. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
19. Birmingham, Alabama
20. St. Louis, Missouri
21. New York, New York
22. Providence, Rhode Island
23. Minneapolis, Minnesota
24. Boston, Massachusetts
25. Buffalo, New York
America’s 25 Most Conservative Cities(in descending order)
1. Provo, Utah
2. Lubbock, Texas
3. Abilene, Texas
4. Hialeah, Florida
5. Plano, Texas
6. Colorado Springs, Colorado
7. Gilbert, Arizona
8. Bakersfield, California
9. Lafayette, Louisiana
10. Orange, California
11. Escondido, California
12. Allentown, Pennsylvania
13. Mesa, Arizona
14. Arlington, Texas
15. Peoria, Arizona
16. Cape Coral, Florida
17. Garden Grove, California
18. Simi Valley, California
19. Corona, California
20. Clearwater, Florida
21. West Valley City, Utah
22. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
23. Overland Park, Kansas
24. Anchorage, Alaska
25. Huntington Beach, California
