The 10 Most Liberal Cities In The United States For 2026

The most liberal cities in the US are Baltimore and San Francisco for 2026 based on Saturday Night Science.

Written by

HomeSnacks

Last updated

June 28, 2026

There’s liberal media, Liberty Island, Liberty Bell, and liberal cities. But where are the most liberal cities in the United States?

Most lists use vibes to guess which city seems more liberal, but we have Saturday Night Science to back us up. Specifically, we wanted to know the cities in America that have the highest number of liberal voters.

After analyzing the 100 biggest cities in America, it turns out Baltimore is the most liberal city in America — not a huge surprise.

And to be clear, we didn’t form this list based on our own biases — we relied on the cold hard data.

1

No. 1 most liberal city in America

Baltimore, MD

573,243 peopleSnackAbility 6/10

6/10

Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers

2

No. 2 most liberal city in America

San Francisco, CA

830,235 peopleSnackAbility 8/10

8/10

Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers

3

No. 3 most liberal city in America

New Orleans, LA

371,853 peopleSnackAbility 4/10

4/10

Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers

4

No. 4 most liberal city in America

Atlanta, GA

505,268 peopleSnackAbility 7/10

7/10

Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers

5

No. 5 most liberal city in America

Richmond, VA

229,359 peopleSnackAbility 6/10

6/10

Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers

6

No. 6 most liberal city in America

St. Louis, MO

288,512 peopleSnackAbility 4/10

4/10

Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers

7

No. 7 most liberal city in America

New York, NY

8,483,844 peopleSnackAbility 8/10

8/10

Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers

8

No. 8 most liberal city in America

Philadelphia, PA

1,579,706 peopleSnackAbility 6/10

6/10

Data | Cost of living | Movers

9

No. 9 most liberal city in America

Arlington, VA

236,254 peopleSnackAbility 7/10

7/10

Data | Cost of living | Movers

10

No. 10 most liberal city in America

Raleigh, NC

481,031 peopleSnackAbility 8/10

8/10

Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers

The receipts

Compare the top ten

Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is the United States’s statewide median.

City Population vs US

1 Baltimore 573,243 —

2 San Francisco 830,235 —

3 New Orleans 371,853 —

4 Atlanta 505,268 —

5 Richmond 229,359 —

6 St. Louis 288,512 —

7 New York 8,483,844 —

8 Philadelphia 1,579,706 —

9 Arlington 236,254 —

10 Raleigh 481,031 —

City % Democrat vs US

1 Baltimore 1 —

2 San Francisco 1 —

3 New Orleans 1 —

4 Atlanta 1 —

5 Richmond 1 —

6 St. Louis 1 —

7 New York 1 —

8 Philadelphia 1 —

9 Arlington 1 —

10 Raleigh 1 —

On the map

Where the most liberal cities in America are

1 Baltimore
2 San Francisco
3 New Orleans
4 Atlanta
5 Richmond
6 St. Louis
7 New York
8 Philadelphia
9 Arlington
10 Raleigh

Saturday Night Science

How we determined the most liberal cities in America for 2026

Using Saturday Night Science, we created a list of the 100 biggest cities in America based on the 2020-2024 American Community Survey.

We then measured the voting record and MIT election data to determine which places lean the most leftward in their allegiances. We looked at:

Because no centralized database contains voting data at the city level, we used county-level election results from the 2020 election. We assigned every city in a county the percentage of votes that went to the Democrats, effectively extending the county’s results to the city level.

Percentage Of Votes For Democratic President In 2020

Next, we ranked each city from 1 to 100 for each criterion, where number one was the most liberal. The winner, Baltimore, is “The Most Liberal City in America For 2026”.

We updated this article for 2026. This report is our eleventh time ranking the most liberal cities in America.

The full list

Most Liberal Cities In The United States For 2026

Click any column to sort. Search by city name.

Rank	City	Population	% Liberal
1	Baltimore, MD	573,243	100.0%
2	San Francisco, CA	830,235	100.0%
3	New Orleans, LA	371,853	100.0%
4	Atlanta, GA	505,268	100.0%
5	Richmond, VA	229,359	100.0%
6	St. Louis, MO	288,512	100.0%
7	New York, NY	8,483,844	100.0%
8	Philadelphia, PA	1,579,706	100.0%
9	Arlington, VA	236,254	100.0%
10	Raleigh, NC	481,031	100.0%
10	Durham, NC	291,467	100.0%
12	Boston, MA	666,442	100.0%
13	Oakland, CA	439,418	100.0%
13	Fremont, CA	228,295	100.0%
15	Denver, CO	718,877	100.0%
16	Newark, NJ	310,178	100.0%
17	Madison, WI	278,001	100.0%
18	Seattle, WA	754,195	100.0%
19	Chicago, IL	2,711,226	100.0%
20	San Jose, CA	990,138	100.0%
21	Jersey City, NJ	294,078	100.0%
22	Norfolk, VA	233,596	100.0%
23	St. Paul, MN	307,284	100.0%
25	Santa Clarita, CA	230,221	100.0%
25	Long Beach, CA	455,548	100.0%
25	Los Angeles, CA	3,857,263	100.0%
27	Minneapolis, MN	427,246	100.0%
28	Milwaukee, WI	566,973	100.0%
29	Detroit, MI	638,530	100.0%
30	El Paso, TX	680,130	100.0%
31	Charlotte, NC	903,844	100.0%
32	Cleveland, OH	366,097	100.0%
33	Irving, TX	256,492	100.0%
34	Alexander , TN	690,130	100.0%
35	Memphis, TN	618,980	100.0%
36	Indianapolis, IN	885,860	100.0%
37	Urban Honolulu, HI	345,482	100.0%
38	Sacramento, CA	528,706	100.0%
39	Laredo, TX	257,619	100.0%
40	Orlando, FL	319,758	100.0%
41	Albuquerque, NM	562,218	100.0%
42	Greensboro, NC	301,198	100.0%
43	San Diego, CA	1,389,526	100.0%
43	Chula Vista, CA	276,375	100.0%
45	Pittsburgh, PA	304,759	100.0%
46	Lexington-Fayette Urban County, KY	323,725	100.0%
47	Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government (Balance), KY	631,818	100.0%
48	Tucson, AZ	547,073	100.0%
49	San Antonio, TX	1,479,835	100.0%
50	Toledo, OH	267,463	100.0%
51	Cincinnati, OH	311,224	100.0%
52	Aurora, CO	394,432	100.0%
53	Winston-Salem, NC	252,037	100.0%
54	Buffalo, NY	276,854	100.0%
55	Stockton, CA	322,326	100.0%
56	Houston, TX	2,328,253	100.0%
57	Omaha, NE	488,837	100.0%
58	Austin, TX	979,539	100.0%
59	Portland, OR	641,165	100.0%
61	Enterprise, NV	240,464	100.0%
61	North Las Vegas, NV	278,595	100.0%
61	Las Vegas, NV	660,400	100.0%
61	Henderson, NV	332,141	100.0%
65	Anaheim, CA	344,521	100.0%
65	Santa Ana, CA	312,534	100.0%
65	Irvine, CA	311,690	100.0%
67	Miami, FL	459,745	100.0%
68	Riverside, CA	319,069	100.0%
69	Fresno, CA	545,970	100.0%
70	Tampa, FL	401,618	100.0%
71	Lincoln, NE	294,856	100.0%
72	Chesapeake, VA	252,583	100.0%
73	Virginia Beach, VA	456,349	100.0%
74	Jacksonville, FL	977,670	100.0%
75	Reno, NV	273,212	100.0%
78	Phoenix, AZ	1,642,323	100.0%
78	Mesa, AZ	511,764	100.0%
78	Gilbert, AZ	280,262	100.0%
78	Chandler, AZ	280,136	100.0%
78	Glendale, AZ	252,833	100.0%
78	Scottsdale, AZ	243,821	100.0%
82	St. Petersburg, FL	262,732	0.0%
83	Arlington, TX	397,742	0.0%
84	Port St. Lucie, FL	232,491	0.0%
86	Dallas, TX	1,307,930	0.0%
86	Plano, TX	290,594	0.0%
86	Garland, TX	246,844	0.0%
88	Boise City, ID	237,242	0.0%
89	Spokane, WA	230,293	0.0%
90	Columbus, OH	914,802	0.0%
91	Fort Worth, TX	963,194	0.0%
92	Bakersfield, CA	411,986	0.0%
93	Fort Wayne, IN	268,589	0.0%
94	Wichita, KS	397,945	0.0%
95	Colorado Springs, CO	487,887	0.0%
96	Kansas City, MO	510,612	0.0%
97	Lubbock, TX	264,814	0.0%
98	Tulsa, OK	413,794	0.0%
99	Oklahoma City, OK	697,125	0.0%
100	Corpus Christi, TX	317,419	0.0%

Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024 + MIT election data. The 100 largest US cities.

Summary

Summing Up All The Liberal Snowflake Cities In The US

Well, there you have it, the big cities in America that have the highest number of liberals per capita, with Baltimore ranking as the least conservative in the entire country.

The most liberal cities in the United States are Baltimore, MD, San Francisco, CA, New Orleans, LA, Atlanta, GA, Richmond, VA, St. Louis, MO, New York, NY, Philadelphia, PA, Arlington, VA, and Raleigh, NC.

About the author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

Website All articles by Chris Kolmar

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