Rank these metro areas from most to least liberal

[Roll Roons]

Most liberal does not necessarily mean most Democratic, and consider the entire metro area rather than just the urban core.

Atlanta
Bay Area
Boston
Chicago
DC
LA
NYC
Philadelphia
Seattle

[Alben Barkley]

Based on both voting patterns and stereotypes:

1. DC

2. Bay Area

3. Boston

4. Philadelphia

5. Seattle

6. Chicago

7. NYC

8. Atlanta

9. LA

[ملكة كرينجيتوك]

Differences probably aren't that big but

1. Bay Area
2. Boston
3. Philadelphia
4. Seattle
5. DC
6. Chicago
7. NYC
8. Los Angeles
9. Atlanta

I wasn't sure where to put Philly so I went with Alben Barkley's example. I ranked NYC above LAX due to the former's more developed and more widely used public transit system, and Boston behind the Bay Area due in part to the former's racism. I also penalized DC for being the seat of the federal government, which I perceive to be a conservatizing influence.

[ProgressiveModerate]

I think some of this depends on what you're using as your definition of "liberal". Liberal could mean economically progressive in a city with a rich history of labour unions and workers rights, or socially liberal with a lot of young "socially aware" college graduates who don't use plastic straws.

The one thing I will say is any way you cut it, I think Philly is too high on the lists of the posters above. I understand it's tempting to rank it somewhat high because even suburbs pretty far out in Chester and Montgomery lean D, but you def have some more Conservative pockets in parts of Delaware and Bucks Counties, and don't forget about the NJ side!.

[Aurelius2]

The Bay Area is much more liberal than the DC area, having lived in both. It's no contest.

[Alben Barkley]

Philly voted over 81% Democratic in 2020, nearly as much as San Francisco. That puts it to the left of the central urban areas of everything I put below it, and the suburbs are no less Democratic than say the Seattle suburbs either. You can argue based on "vibes" or whatever that it should be less "liberal," but the cold hard data tells another story.

I too have lived in DC and my gut told me to put the Bay Area (which I admittedly have never stepped foot in) higher, but two things stopped me from doing so:

1. DC itself is literally, consistently THE most Democratic municipality in the country, or very close to it.

2. As I understand it, not all of the Bay Area is as liberal as San Francisco. This of course applies to the DC suburbs as well, but they have LURCHED to the left in recent years, to the point I'm not sure there's much difference anymore; therefore I went based on DC itself being over 90% Democratic vs. SF being over 80% Democratic.

Now, are there plenty of Republicans from OUTSIDE DC who reside there much/most of the year? Sure. And that might explain some of the "vibes" which make DC FEEL less liberal, along with the general "East Coast" vibe feeling less liberal/hippy dippy than the San Franscisco West Coast "vibe." But the core residents of DC are overwhelmingly liberal and Democratic.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

1. Bay Area
2. Seattle


3. Boston
4. DC
5. Philly
6. Chicago
7. NYC
8. LA (the core of LA would rank way higher, but there are more semi-conservative suburbs in SoCal than most above it)


9. Atlanta

[ProgressiveModerate]

Philly voted over 81% Democratic in 2020, nearly as much as San Francisco. That puts it to the left of the central urban areas of everything I put below it, and the suburbs are no less Democratic than say the Seattle suburbs either. You can argue based on "vibes" or whatever that it should be less "liberal," but the cold hard data tells another story.

I too have lived in DC and my gut told me to put the Bay Area (which I admittedly have never stepped foot in) higher, but two things stopped me from doing so:

1. DC itself is literally, consistently THE most Democratic municipality in the country, or very close to it.

2. As I understand it, not all of the Bay Area is as liberal as San Francisco. This of course applies to the DC suburbs as well, but they have LURCHED to the left in recent years, to the point I'm not sure there's much difference anymore; therefore I went based on DC itself being over 90% Democratic vs. SF being over 80% Democratic.

Now, are there plenty of Republicans from OUTSIDE DC who reside there much/most of the year? Sure. And that might explain some of the "vibes" which make DC FEEL less liberal, along with the general "East Coast" vibe feeling less liberal/hippy dippy than the San Franscisco West Coast "vibe." But the core residents of DC are overwhelmingly liberal and Democratic.

I agree, Dems 81% showing in Philly is meaningful, but the question is about larger metro areas. In the Bay Area, there are no remaining Conservative/Republican pockets whereas in the Philly burbs (both on the PA and NJ side), you def have more geopolitical diversity. Another factor too is Philly has a larger black population, and generally I would consider a D+80% area with a large black population to be less liberal than a D + 80% area that's mostly white.

[Alben Barkley]

Philly voted over 81% Democratic in 2020, nearly as much as San Francisco. That puts it to the left of the central urban areas of everything I put below it, and the suburbs are no less Democratic than say the Seattle suburbs either. You can argue based on "vibes" or whatever that it should be less "liberal," but the cold hard data tells another story.

I too have lived in DC and my gut told me to put the Bay Area (which I admittedly have never stepped foot in) higher, but two things stopped me from doing so:

1. DC itself is literally, consistently THE most Democratic municipality in the country, or very close to it.

2. As I understand it, not all of the Bay Area is as liberal as San Francisco. This of course applies to the DC suburbs as well, but they have LURCHED to the left in recent years, to the point I'm not sure there's much difference anymore; therefore I went based on DC itself being over 90% Democratic vs. SF being over 80% Democratic.

Now, are there plenty of Republicans from OUTSIDE DC who reside there much/most of the year? Sure. And that might explain some of the "vibes" which make DC FEEL less liberal, along with the general "East Coast" vibe feeling less liberal/hippy dippy than the San Franscisco West Coast "vibe." But the core residents of DC are overwhelmingly liberal and Democratic.

I agree, Dems 81% showing in Philly is meaningful, but the question is about larger metro areas. In the Bay Area, there are no remaining Conservative/Republican pockets whereas in the Philly burbs (both on the PA and NJ side), you def have more geopolitical diversity. Another factor too is Philly has a larger black population, and generally I would consider a D+80% area with a large black population to be less liberal than a D + 80% area that's mostly white.

Well yeah, I mean I did rank the Bay Area above Philly here. I never claimed Philly is MORE liberal than the Bay Area.

The real question is DC vs. the Bay Area IMO.

[ProgressiveModerate]

Philly voted over 81% Democratic in 2020, nearly as much as San Francisco. That puts it to the left of the central urban areas of everything I put below it, and the suburbs are no less Democratic than say the Seattle suburbs either. You can argue based on "vibes" or whatever that it should be less "liberal," but the cold hard data tells another story.

I too have lived in DC and my gut told me to put the Bay Area (which I admittedly have never stepped foot in) higher, but two things stopped me from doing so:

1. DC itself is literally, consistently THE most Democratic municipality in the country, or very close to it.

2. As I understand it, not all of the Bay Area is as liberal as San Francisco. This of course applies to the DC suburbs as well, but they have LURCHED to the left in recent years, to the point I'm not sure there's much difference anymore; therefore I went based on DC itself being over 90% Democratic vs. SF being over 80% Democratic.

Now, are there plenty of Republicans from OUTSIDE DC who reside there much/most of the year? Sure. And that might explain some of the "vibes" which make DC FEEL less liberal, along with the general "East Coast" vibe feeling less liberal/hippy dippy than the San Franscisco West Coast "vibe." But the core residents of DC are overwhelmingly liberal and Democratic.

I agree, Dems 81% showing in Philly is meaningful, but the question is about larger metro areas. In the Bay Area, there are no remaining Conservative/Republican pockets whereas in the Philly burbs (both on the PA and NJ side), you def have more geopolitical diversity. Another factor too is Philly has a larger black population, and generally I would consider a D+80% area with a large black population to be less liberal than a D + 80% area that's mostly white.

Well yeah, I mean I did rank the Bay Area above Philly here. I never claimed Philly is MORE liberal than the Bay Area.

The real question is DC vs. the Bay Area IMO.

Ye DC vs Bay Area is tough. I think part of it depends upon how expansive you're considering the DC metro area, because there's quite a sharp dropoff between hyper-liberal and more Conservative suburbs/exurbs, whereas the Bay Area is more clearly defined because there's obvious defining geographic boundaries.

[Хahar 🤔]

2. As I understand it, not all of the Bay Area is as liberal as San Francisco. This of course applies to the DC suburbs as well, but they have LURCHED to the left in recent years, to the point I'm not sure there's much difference anymore; therefore I went based on DC itself being over 90% Democratic vs. SF being over 80% Democratic.

There are many ways that you can define "liberal", but since you're using the 2020 vote for Joe Biden in this thread, I'll do the same. Using the standard nine-county definition of the Bay Area, Biden won the Bay Area outside San Francisco by a margin of 75 percent to 23 percent. This is clearly less than within San Francisco, where he won 85 percent to 13 percent, but I am not sure what that demonstrates.

[GregTheGreat657]

1. Bay Area
2. DC
3. Boston
4. Seattle
5. LA
6. Chicago
7. Philadelphia
8. NYC
9. Atlanta

[It’s so Joever]

Philly voted over 81% Democratic in 2020, nearly as much as San Francisco. That puts it to the left of the central urban areas of everything I put below it, and the suburbs are no less Democratic than say the Seattle suburbs either. You can argue based on "vibes" or whatever that it should be less "liberal," but the cold hard data tells another story.

I too have lived in DC and my gut told me to put the Bay Area (which I admittedly have never stepped foot in) higher, but two things stopped me from doing so:

1. DC itself is literally, consistently THE most Democratic municipality in the country, or very close to it.

2. As I understand it, not all of the Bay Area is as liberal as San Francisco. This of course applies to the DC suburbs as well, but they have LURCHED to the left in recent years, to the point I'm not sure there's much difference anymore; therefore I went based on DC itself being over 90% Democratic vs. SF being over 80% Democratic.

Now, are there plenty of Republicans from OUTSIDE DC who reside there much/most of the year? Sure. And that might explain some of the "vibes" which make DC FEEL less liberal, along with the general "East Coast" vibe feeling less liberal/hippy dippy than the San Franscisco West Coast "vibe." But the core residents of DC are overwhelmingly liberal and Democratic.

DC is more Democratic, SF is more liberal.