Liberals Live Here
Hey, Texas is a great place for liberals to live. Really.
Austin has long been considered the lone blue dot in the middle of a sea of Texas red when it comes to politics. But according to a new study, it's not the only Lone Star locale where liberals would be happy living.
SmartAsset determined which cities in America were the best for liberals and which were best for conservatives. Austin is second only to Seattle on the 25 best places for liberals. Also on the list are Houston (15), Fort Worth (18), and Dallas (21). That's one more than California, which had three in the top 25: San Francisco (3), San Diego (14), and San Jose (16).
For the study, SmartAsset looked at the local economy, cost of living, population growth, education growth, and upward mobility (from the Equality of Opportunity Project at Harvard). A political ideology score, from the American Ideology Project, was included to differentiate between cities that were simply nice to live in and those liberals or conservatives would prefer.
Three Texas cities rank among the 10 best places for conservatives. Midland takes the No. 1 spot on that list, with Amarillo coming in third and Lubbock 10th. The rankings make sense too. According to the study, Midland hasn't voted for a Democrat in a presidential election since Harry Truman in 1948.
Fletcher's Chocolate Corny Dog. Photo courtesy of State Fair of Texas