A recent YouGov survey explored which states Americans view most — and least — favorably. How about their favorite U.S. cities?
Nashville, Tenn. is the big city in the United States that is viewed most favorably by Americans, according to a new YouGov survey that asked Americans how favorably or unfavorably they view the 50 most populous cities in the U.S.
Nashville leads the country in net favorability — the share of Americans who view it favorably minus the share who view it unfavorably. Just behind Nashville and its +44 net favorability are San Diego, Colorado Springs, and Virginia Beach — each with net favorability of +39. Next in the ranking among the 50 biggest cities: Charlotte, N.C. (+37), Denver (+36), Raleigh, N.C., (+35), and San Antonio (+34).
Detroit has the lowest net favorability (-17) of the 50 cities asked about. More Americans have an unfavorable view of Detroit than a favorable one (46% vs. 29%). Oakland, Calif. (-7) and Bakersfield, Calif. (-5) are also viewed more unfavorably than favorably.
Raleigh beats Nashville by a different metric: What Americans who have been in each city think of it. Raleigh's net favorability among people who have been there is +73, highest among the 50 cities on the survey. Raleigh is followed by Colorado Springs (+69), San Antonio (+69), Virginia Beach (+66), Charlotte (+65), and Nashville (+65).
People who have been to cities generally view them more favorably than people who haven't, probably in part because people choose to spend time in places they're more likely to view positively. The average net score for the 50 biggest U.S. cities among all Americans is +19; among people who have been to each, it's +38.
Bakersfield fares worst among visitors with net favorability -10. Among people who have spent time in Bakersfield, 37% view it favorably and 47% view it unfavorably. Other cities with low net favorability include Detroit (-5) and Oakland (-4).
People who live in cities generally like the biggest U.S. cities more people who live in suburbs, towns, and rural areas do. For 37 of the 50 cities asked about, their net favorability is at least 5 points higher among city dwellers than among non-city dwellers. The largest difference is about Washington D.C.: It has a net score of +31 among people in cities and -2 among non-city residents. Los Angeles is similarly divisive, with net scores of +21 among city residents and -9 among people who live outside cities.
People in suburbs, towns, and rural areas give San Antonio a higher net score than people in cities do (+40 vs. +20). Mesa, Ariz. also is more favorably regarded by people not in cities than by people in cities (+25 vs. +14).
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to like cities in Democratic states, and the same is true for Republicans in red-state cities. Los Angeles proves most divisive: It has a +45 net favorability among Democrats and a net favorability of -47 among Republicans. Other cities that Democrats view much more favorably than Republicans do include San Francisco (+65 vs. -24), Chicago (+52 vs. -29), and Seattle (+67 vs. -7).
Cities that Republicans view much more favorably than Democrats do include Fort Worth, Texas, (net favorability of +53 among Republicans and -5 among Democrats), Tampa, Fla. (+58 vs. +5), Jacksonville, Fla. (+50 vs. 0), and San Antonio (+63 vs. +17).
Related:
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- How Americans describe New York, Los Angeles, and other major U.S. cities
- Which states have Americans visited?
See the results for this YouGov survey
— Carl Bialik, David Montgomery, and Taylor Orth contributed to this article
Methodology: This article includes results from a poll conducted online among 2,175 U.S. adult citizens on two separate surveys from July 3 - 9, 2025 and July 7 - 10, 2025. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 3%.
Image: Getty (Jeremy Poland)
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