# What are the most conservative and most liberal cities in the US **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 25, 2014, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-conservative-and-most-liberal-cities-in-the-us/686999 "2014-04-25T23:21:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-conservative-and-most-liberal-cities-in-the-us/686999/1 "2014-04-25T23:21:42Z")
I’m guessing Eugene Oregon as the most liberal, and the Mississippi delta region (not a city though, but still) as the most conservative. Or is it just splitting hairs after a while? Can anyone say Eugene is more liberal than Boulder or San Francisco? Plus not all cities are the same, certain neighborhoods are more liberal or conservative than others within a city. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-conservative-and-most-liberal-cities-in-the-us/686999/2 "2014-04-25T23:24:10Z")
Green Party candidates get more votes in San Francisco than Republican Party candidates, even though Democrats run the city. Nudity is legal in San Francisco unless it involves sitting in public places where other people might be unwilling to sit where you were just sitting. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-conservative-and-most-liberal-cities-in-the-us/686999/3 "2014-04-25T23:53:57Z")
Okay, but which one is the most liberal? ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-conservative-and-most-liberal-cities-in-the-us/686999/4 "2014-04-26T00:02:04Z")
There is always Berkeley, CA and Takoma Park, MD. Both very liberal, but I doubt anything really trumps San Francisco in the popular imagination. Oklahoma seems like an extremely wingnut state, but I’m not really familiar with it’s cities. Tulsa or Oklahoma City, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-conservative-and-most-liberal-cities-in-the-us/686999/5 "2014-04-26T00:19:22Z")
First define what “liberal” and “conservative” mean. Some of us consider them to be very vague terms. For liberal cities I would look at small cities dominated by a large college or university. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-conservative-and-most-liberal-cities-in-the-us/686999/6 "2014-04-26T00:29:04Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > First define what “liberal” and “conservative” mean. Some of us consider them to be very vague terms. > > For liberal cities I would look at small cities dominated by a large college or university. Liberal - counterculture, egalitarian, self actualized, hedonistic, introspective, questioning authority, high demand for novelty Conservative - traditional, social hierarchies, respect for authority, nationalistic, low demand for novelty, etc. I don’t know how to describe it. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-conservative-and-most-liberal-cities-in-the-us/686999/7 "2014-04-26T00:52:28Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > First define what “liberal” and “conservative” mean. Some of us consider them to be very vague terms. > > For liberal cities I would look at small cities dominated by a large college or university. Like Eugene, Oregon. Eugene has more lesbians (by % of population) than any other city, but I don’t know if that makes it more liberal. I always assumed it did. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-conservative-and-most-liberal-cities-in-the-us/686999/8 "2014-04-26T00:59:26Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > Like Eugene, Oregon. Eugene has more lesbians (by % of population) than any other city, but I don’t know if that makes it more liberal. I always assumed it did. I assume GLBT are attracted to liberal cities because they can find tolerance and community. But again, there are towns and their are neighborhoods. I’m assuming a GLBT would feel OK in most of Eugene (I assume), but a gay person in Hillcrest San Diego would be different than their experience in Coronado. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-conservative-and-most-liberal-cities-in-the-us/686999/9 "2014-04-26T01:17:37Z")
Most Conservative: Boulder Utah Most Liberal: Boulder Colorado ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-conservative-and-most-liberal-cities-in-the-us/686999/10 "2014-04-26T01:18:53Z")
Tulsa is a socialist paradise compared to Oklahoma City. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-conservative-and-most-liberal-cities-in-the-us/686999/11 "2014-04-26T03:13:55Z")
I like how James J. Kilpatrck, whom many considered “conservative”, defined the term. _If there is one basic tenet of conservatisn it is that government has no business meddling in the private lives of a free people._ ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-conservative-and-most-liberal-cities-in-the-us/686999/12 "2014-04-26T03:34:55Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > Most Conservative: Boulder Utah > > Most Liberal: Boulder Colorado As a Boulder resident, I’d dispute the “most liberal” label. It used to be, but the city has changed a lot over the years. It’s now a very expensive place to live so the hippies have moved out, and now it’s full of scientists and engineers. It certainly votes Democrat, and it isn’t conservative at all, but it is more libertarian than liberal these days. Real libertarian, not what some right wingers like Rand Paul thinks that means. It means that you stay out of other people’s business and leave them alone to do they’re thing, and if that means what they like to do in their bedroom or if they want to have an abortion, that’s OK. If they want to go to a megachurch or carry a gun, that’s OK as well. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-conservative-and-most-liberal-cities-in-the-us/686999/13 "2014-04-26T03:50:19Z")
Oh, and I’d nominate Provo, UT for most conservative. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-conservative-and-most-liberal-cities-in-the-us/686999/14 "2014-04-26T04:42:28Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I like how James J. Kilpatrck, whom many considered “conservative”, defined the term. > > _If there is one basic tenet of conservatisn it is that government has no business meddling in the private lives of a free people._ Unless they’re gay or want to have an abortion or smoke a joint. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-conservative-and-most-liberal-cities-in-the-us/686999/15 "2014-04-26T10:38:16Z")
The OP mention\*\*ed the Mississippi Delta (not a city) as the possible “Most Conservative.” [This map](http://nyoobserver.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/purple-electoral-map.jpg) shows 2012 election results by county–adjusted for population density. Mostly, cities tend to be bluer, suburbs in “red” states are red–and the land between (pale colors) varies. Across the Deep South & down the Mississippi, you have a swath of rural blue. That’s the Black Belt–perhaps the folks are “conservative” but they vote Democratic. Similarly, Texas’s Border counties are light blue–because they are heavily Tejano. I’d call the smallest blue dot cities surrounded like the biggest red 'burbs more conservative. (Rather like an angry growth in a Petrie dish, with a healing (hopefully growing) antibiotic in the middle.) Are Amarillo, Midland & Odessa “cities”? For most conservative–how abut Salt Lake City? For most liberal, I’d tend toward San Francisco…but I haven’t been to Eugene. Again–is it a city or a town? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-conservative-and-most-liberal-cities-in-the-us/686999/16 "2014-04-26T12:55:12Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Unless they’re gay or want to have an abortion or smoke a joint. Or buy a gun or don’t want to buy health insurance. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-conservative-and-most-liberal-cities-in-the-us/686999/17 "2014-04-26T13:37:57Z")
I’m surprised to hear that gun control and universal health care have been adopted by conservatives. Must’ve been ignored by the lamestream media. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-conservative-and-most-liberal-cities-in-the-us/686999/18 "2014-04-26T13:45:16Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I like how James J. Kilpatrck, whom many considered “conservative”, defined the term. > > _If there is one basic tenet of conservatisn it is that government has no business meddling in the private lives of a free people._ Its not that easy. Among libertarian conservatives yes, but among authoritarian conservatives and social conservatives, no. They feel the opposite. As far as Provo, UT I thought that was a bastion of liberalism in a red state. Maybe my info was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-conservative-and-most-liberal-cities-in-the-us/686999/19 "2014-04-26T14:32:39Z")
Berkeley is more liberal than San Francisco, which for many years has been heading in the direction of wealthy enclave/tourist trap. All the contenders for most liberal I can think of are small cities dominated by a big university – Chapel Hill, Austin, etc. I’m interested in the most conservative list. Here’s [one website list](http://blog.estately.com/2013/11/13-best-u-s-cities-for-conservatives-to-live/). Oklahoma City tops it. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-conservative-and-most-liberal-cities-in-the-us/686999/20 "2014-04-26T14:53:04Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > As a Boulder resident, I’d dispute the “most liberal” label. It used to be, but the city has changed a lot over the years. It’s now a very expensive place to live so the hippies have moved out, and now it’s full of scientists and engineers. > > It certainly votes Democrat, and it isn’t conservative at all, but it is more libertarian than liberal these days. Real libertarian, not what some right wingers like Rand Paul thinks that means. It means that you stay out of other people’s business and leave them alone to do they’re thing, and if that means what they like to do in their bedroom or if they want to have an abortion, that’s OK. If they want to go to a megachurch or carry a gun, that’s OK as well. As a scientist/engineer in Boulder, I agree with this. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-conservative-and-most-liberal-cities-in-the-us/686999.md?page=2)