With Pride season getting ready to rain down upon us like so much glitter, consumer information site NerdWallet decided to rank the country’s most gay-friendly cities, based on municipal laws, community and peer support, and safety and tolerance.
NerdWallet used the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index, included the percentage of same-sex households in the region from the U.S. Census, and accounted for the number of hate crimes for sexual orientation per 100,000 residents in a city’s overall score.
And the top 10 gay-friendliest cities are:
Rank | City | Equality index | Percentage of households that are same-sex partners | # gay hate crimes per 100,000 residents | Overall gay friendliness score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Palm Springs, CA | 95 | 8.60% | 11.1 | 72 |
2 | San Francisco, CA | 100 | 2.60% | 2.6 | 69.4 |
3 | Seattle, WA | 100 | 1.80% | 1 | 69.3 |
4 | Long Beach, CA | 100 | 1.40% | 0.6 | 68.8 |
5 | Cambridge, MA | 100 | 1.10% | 0 | 68.8 |
6 | Los Angeles, CA | 100 | 0.80% | 0 | 68.1 |
7 | Portland, OR | 100 | 2.00% | 2.7 | 68 |
8 | Philadelphia, PA | 100 | 0.60% | 0 | 67.7 |
9 | San Diego, CA | 100 | 1.10% | 1.4 | 67.4 |
10 | New York, NY | 100 | 0.70% | 0.8 | 67.1 |
You can see NerdWallet’s complete rankings here.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
tchuy03
Queerty has missed one the largest pride in the US. Long Beach Pride is also the second-largest gay pride event in Southern California after West Hollywood’s celebration. It is the fourth largest pride event in the nation, behind San Francisco, New York and West Hollywood.Long Beach Pride is a great Pride but is shunned because it is primarily Latino and does not fit the GLBT Community according to Queerty.Very Sad!
LandStander
Anyone else notice anything funny about these stats? The “most gay friendly” is the only one without a 100 equality index score, and has the most reported hate crimes per capita. So, they won #1 “most gay friendly” just by having the most same-sex partnered households? I’m sorry, but having more gays doesn’t make you more gay friendly!
LandStander
By most gay households, I meant the largest percentage. I realize those are not the same thing 😛
stadacona
So much for the lie that LGBT is 10% of the population. Even accounting for single and closeted LGBT households by doubling or tripling these stats, it’s pretty clear that the percentage of LGBT is less than 5% overall in the “gayest” of towns and much less in society at large.