Suburbia vs. Living in the City (Part 2)
By Jason Pancake
This week continues with the theme of how population changes in America’s big cities and suburbs have affected politics to people having to choose how they want to live.
Throughout modern history, especially in the U.S, there has divide between the city and the countryside. You have the urban areas, the suburbs, rural areas, and now things in between like exurbs. Part of what makes government so difficult is that the problems, opinions, and lifestyles of people in urban areas vs. more isolated places are often totally different. In fact, the changes within cities have made this divide even greater. When trying to decide whether you want to live near a major metropolitan area or out in the suburbs, your personal, social, and political views and goals can have a major impact. For example, if you are interested in buying a larger house with a yard, but aren’t a millionaire, you most likely couldn’t afford it in L.A., but can easily afford it in many other states. The median home price in L.A. was $438,000 and $738,000 in San Francisco, but only $107,000 in Ft. Wayne, IN or $138,000 in San Antonio. As you can see it would be really easy to give up having the excitement and many activities/restaurants/entertainment of a city, if you would prefer a bigger house. In addition, a smaller city/state probably has lower taxes, lower cost of living, and a more “traditional” way of life.
Over the last few decades, a lot of people are choosing to make the move to less expensive areas. Even if these people who moved aren’t mainly Republican or mainly Democrat, they still impact places like Florida, Texas, and Arizona by increasing the population and political power (electoral votes) of those Republican states. Between 1970 and 1997, Arizona grew by 257%, Florida grew by 216% and Texas grew by 74% as more people moved to these places. Even though California has also grown quickly, it only grew by 62%. New York, a Democratic stronghold, meanwhile decreased in population by 6% between 1970 and 1997.
Recently though, it appears like some Democrats have been pushed away from cities and into suburbs that Republicans once moved into, but had now moved out of. This article on Ohio, discusses how some suburbs in Ohio that had voted for Bush in 2004 seemed to turn Democrat for the 2006 election, while the Republicans there moved to other newer suburbs.
Overall though, when you look at the way Americans vote, urban areas (many being in the Northeast and West Coast) are much more likely to vote Democrat, while the rural and less urban areas are much more Republican. It is no coincidence that more Republicans than Democrats support socially conservative ideas, are white, and enjoy the old idea of living in a small town.
And just for fun, according to a voting research group study, here are some lists:
The Top 10 Most Conservative Cities
1 Provo, Utah
2 Lubbock, Texas
3 Abilene, Texas
4 Hialeah, Florida
5 Plano, Texas
6 Colorado Springs, Colorado
7 Gilbert, Arizona
8 Bakersfield, California
9 Lafayette, Louisiana
10 Orange, California
The Top 10 Most Liberal Cities
1 Detroit, Michigan
2 Gary, Indiana
3 Berkeley, California
4 Washington, DC
5 Oakland, California
6 Inglewood, California
7 Newark, New Jersey
8 Cambridge, Massachusetts
9 San Francisco, California
10 Flint, Michigan
As you can see, the conservative cities tend to be suburbs, while the liberal cities are more urban and have many more minorities. Gary, IN may appear a little out of place on the liberal list, but actually it’s only 25 miles from Chicago and the population is 84% black. Looking further at the lists, the top liberal cities list is full of more metropolitan areas like Cleveland, Philadelphia, New York, Seattle, Chicago and Boston. The conservative city list is filled with places like Simi Valley, Oklahoma City, and Garden Grove.
This week continues with the theme of how population changes in America’s big cities and suburbs have affected politics to people having to choose how they want to live.
Throughout modern history, especially in the U.S, there has divide between the city and the countryside. You have the urban areas, the suburbs, rural areas, and now things in between like exurbs. Part of what makes government so difficult is that the problems, opinions, and lifestyles of people in urban areas vs. more isolated places are often totally different. In fact, the changes within cities have made this divide even greater. When trying to decide whether you want to live near a major metropolitan area or out in the suburbs, your personal, social, and political views and goals can have a major impact. For example, if you are interested in buying a larger house with a yard, but aren’t a millionaire, you most likely couldn’t afford it in L.A., but can easily afford it in many other states. The median home price in L.A. was $438,000 and $738,000 in San Francisco, but only $107,000 in Ft. Wayne, IN or $138,000 in San Antonio. As you can see it would be really easy to give up having the excitement and many activities/restaurants/entertainment of a city, if you would prefer a bigger house. In addition, a smaller city/state probably has lower taxes, lower cost of living, and a more “traditional” way of life.
Over the last few decades, a lot of people are choosing to make the move to less expensive areas. Even if these people who moved aren’t mainly Republican or mainly Democrat, they still impact places like Florida, Texas, and Arizona by increasing the population and political power (electoral votes) of those Republican states. Between 1970 and 1997, Arizona grew by 257%, Florida grew by 216% and Texas grew by 74% as more people moved to these places. Even though California has also grown quickly, it only grew by 62%. New York, a Democratic stronghold, meanwhile decreased in population by 6% between 1970 and 1997.
Recently though, it appears like some Democrats have been pushed away from cities and into suburbs that Republicans once moved into, but had now moved out of. This article on Ohio, discusses how some suburbs in Ohio that had voted for Bush in 2004 seemed to turn Democrat for the 2006 election, while the Republicans there moved to other newer suburbs.
Overall though, when you look at the way Americans vote, urban areas (many being in the Northeast and West Coast) are much more likely to vote Democrat, while the rural and less urban areas are much more Republican. It is no coincidence that more Republicans than Democrats support socially conservative ideas, are white, and enjoy the old idea of living in a small town.
And just for fun, according to a voting research group study, here are some lists:
The Top 10 Most Conservative Cities
1 Provo, Utah
2 Lubbock, Texas
3 Abilene, Texas
4 Hialeah, Florida
5 Plano, Texas
6 Colorado Springs, Colorado
7 Gilbert, Arizona
8 Bakersfield, California
9 Lafayette, Louisiana
10 Orange, California
The Top 10 Most Liberal Cities
1 Detroit, Michigan
2 Gary, Indiana
3 Berkeley, California
4 Washington, DC
5 Oakland, California
6 Inglewood, California
7 Newark, New Jersey
8 Cambridge, Massachusetts
9 San Francisco, California
10 Flint, Michigan
As you can see, the conservative cities tend to be suburbs, while the liberal cities are more urban and have many more minorities. Gary, IN may appear a little out of place on the liberal list, but actually it’s only 25 miles from Chicago and the population is 84% black. Looking further at the lists, the top liberal cities list is full of more metropolitan areas like Cleveland, Philadelphia, New York, Seattle, Chicago and Boston. The conservative city list is filled with places like Simi Valley, Oklahoma City, and Garden Grove.
(We apologize for the gap in between bringing you Jason's regular column, all technical newsletter issues have been resolved and we should have it back on a weekly basis)
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