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I was going to say: SF-Guerneville but u beat me to it
I thought Guerneville was pretty nasty when I visited. Certainly not somewhere I would ever visit again. Healdsburg is great though, maybe not for us gays in terms of nightlife, but I didn’t feel uncomfortable there.
I think SF is extremely overrated here. I don’t know if it’s straight people commenting or just provincialism but SF hasn’t really been a great gay men city for a while. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Texas cities passed it up within a decade. I would actually say I do prefer Houston at this point.
Chicago and New York are the best IMO. East Coast cities in general are pretty good. The only west coast cities I really appreciate through the gay lens are LA and San Diego. Seattle is disappointing. Florida cities are pretty good. I was pleasantly surprised with Baltimore.
I recently met a guy from Atlanta and he told me that he has a difficult time actually meeting other guys there because it's so pretentious. He said that the gay men of ATL think they're in LA.
I am in Jacksonville, FL, which is subpar for gay life by all accounts. It's a very slow place and many guys are closeted, discreet or just not motivated to meetup. I would say about 70% of the guys here are drug users and/or don't have good careers or educational attainment. There are about 3 or 4 gay bars, but I'm not into the scene, personally. The guys here also seem to think they're amazing, but.....they're really not.
Most of the guys that I meet here in Jacksonville are recurring visitors from other cities like Chicago, NYC, Atlanta, San Diego, etc. Or just visiting family, because they escaped Jacksonville years ago. Jacksonville is the type of city that gays tend to move away from rather than move into. It's really sad, honestly. But I've learned not to care much anymore, now that I'm 36 and settled here with a good job and a nice house. I didn't choose to move here, really. I "ended up" here three years ago due to dire unemployment circumstances and finally found a good job here.
I would put Jacksonville as a Tier 4 city...just below St. Louis, Baltimore and Pittsburgh.
So, what tier would YOU put YOUR city in, in terms of gay life?
The guy needs to quit hanging out at Blake's, our Stand and Model bar. Why it remains so popular is a mystery to me. But to say this is the vibe here is ridiculous, this is a friendly and approachable place, hardly pretentious at all.
I agree that SF appears to be rated slightly high by some perhaps do to it's historic reputation. I'd put it right after NYC, LA and Chicago. I think my tiering would be:
Tier 1:
NYC
LA, Chicago
SF, DC
Tier 2:
ATL, Boston, DFW, Seattle, Miami, Philly
Tier 3:
Denver, MSP, SD, Houston
Tier 4:
Phoenix, Tampa, Detroit, Baltimore, St. Louis
I'm currently in Atlanta and was in Providence/Boston area previously. Atlanta is very gay in the city and in many of the suburbs. It's a pretty broad group in the types of people here too. I will say the weekend trips within driving distance are definitely lacking. I am not that crazy about Blue Ridge and Chattanooga, i'd rather drive further to Savannah or Asheville. But those are 3.5 hours versus 2 hours. I think the northeastern cities have way more and better gay friendly getaways nearby.
I've considered leaving Atlanta for Philly or Chicago. I tend to like the amenities of legacy cities better. I'm leaning towards Philly due to location and weather.
This is 5 years old. I wonder if there is a more recent ranking out there...
source: Gallup
Percent can be misleading though. Boston has nearly double the % of LGBT as Phoenix but due to the total population difference in the city that's actually less people.
New Hope used to be popular too, but all the gay bars and clubs there have closed, I think.
Yes, I can't believe I forgot New Hope! The Raven was a really fun place to go to in the summer for the pool! There's also Rainbow Mountain up in the Poconos. It's about a 50/50 split between NY and Philly people, and a really fun little place for a weekend getaway.
Percent can be misleading though. Boston has nearly double the % of LGBT as Phoenix but due to the total population difference in the city that's actually less people.
15 Cities with 100,000 or more total population and the highest percentages:
San Francisco: 15.4%
Seattle: 12.9%
Atlanta: 12.8%
Minneapolis: 12.5%
Boston: 12.3%
Sacramento: 9.8%
Portland: 8.8%
Denver: 8.2%
Washington, D.C.: 8.1%
Orlando: 7.7%
San Diego: 6.8%
Phoenix: 6.4%
Chicago: 5.7%
Los Angeles: 5.6%
New York City: 4.5%
You left out Dallas and Houston.
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