best cities for moderates

Best Cities for Moderates – 2016

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UPDATE: Check out our new 2023 Best Cities to Live in the U.S. list.

Best Cities for Moderates – 2016

Both Democrats and Republicans should feel right at home in each of these moderate cities

By Livability.com on September 26, 2016

best cities for moderates

Think both the Trump followers and Clinton supporters are too extreme? If so, cast your ballot for this list: the 2016 Best Cities for Moderates. (And if that sounds like the wrong list for you, try the Best Cities for Liberals or Best Cities for Conservatives).

Why are we doing this ranking? Check the introduction for the full rationale but in short: in today’s divided country it’s easy to grow weary of all the bickering from left to right. There has to be some middle ground, right? And that’s what this list offers: the middle ground.

To find these moderate oases, we crunched election data, looking at places that didn’t swing too far to the right or left in 2012. We also turned to Esri for data on where moderates live and take part in political activities. Then we worked with Simmons Research to identify a TV network, an automobile maker, a restaurant, a retailer and a magazine that moderates tend to gravitate towards. This we call our “basket of goods.”

Once we had this basket, we looked for populations that buy these goods in the extreme, figuring that you’d want to have more in common with your neighbors than just your political yard signs.

Thus, here are the results of our 2016 Moderate Cities ranking. Let us know what you think. Are these places down-the-middle enough for you?

 

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