These Are The 10 Most Conservative Cities In West Virginia

Well that was one heck of a nomination process for the Republican Party. Never in my life time have I see anything like it — given that’s a relatively short lifetime, but who’s counting?

And now that we’re headed towards the big November election, we wanted to get a better sense of what parts of West Virginia would be the most likely to back Donald Trump.

Specifically, which cities have the highest number of conservative voters in the Mountain State?

In order to do so, we turned our sites on measuring how each city in West Virginia with populations greater than 5,000 voted in 2012. The cities with the highest percentage of voters who voted republican in 2012 were crowned the most conservative cities in the state:

1. Bluefield (Photos)
2. Princeton (Photos)
3. Buckhannon (Photos)
4. Beckley (Photos)
5. Keyser (Photos)
6. Hurricane (Photos)
7. Vienna (Photos)
8. Parkersburg (Photos)
9. Grafton (Photos)
10. Elkins (Photos)

If you’re wondering, Charles Town is the most liberal city in West Virginia of all those we measured.

And to be clear, we didn’t form this list based on our own biases — we relied on the cold hard data. For more on how we ran the numbers, keep on reading. Then we’ll take a closer look at each of our top 10 most conservative cities in West Virginia.

How we determined the most Conservative cities in West Virginia

We started by making a list of every place in West Virginia over 5,000 people based on the 2014 American Community Survey that aren’t ‘CDPs’. That left us with more than 27 places in West Virginia.

We then measured the voting record and census data to determine which cities lean the most rightwing in their allegiances. Basically, what percentage of a city voted conservative in the 2012 elecetion?

Next, we ranked each city from 1 to 27, and the winner is “The Most Conservative City in West Virginia.”

Let’s go through these conservative places, shall we?

1. Bluefield

Population: 10,465
Percent Conservative: 72.6%

2. Princeton

Population: 6,387
Percent Conservative: 72.6%

3. Buckhannon

Population: 5,646
Percent Conservative: 71.76%

4. Beckley

Population: 17,529
Percent Conservative: 71.49%

5. Keyser

Population: 5,350
Percent Conservative: 71.29%

6. Hurricane

Population: 6,352
Percent Conservative: 67.7%

7. Vienna

Population: 10,654
Percent Conservative: 65.28%

8. Parkersburg

Population: 31,195
Percent Conservative: 65.28%

9. Grafton

Population: 5,179
Percent Conservative: 65.0%

10. Elkins

Population: 7,241
Percent Conservative: 63.1%

Summing Up The Conservative Strongholds

Well there you have it, the places in West Virginia that have the highest number of conservatives per capita, with Bluefield ranking as the least conservative in the entire state.

If you’re curious, here are the most conservative cities in West Virginia:

1. Charles Town
2. Morgantown
3. St. Albans

For more West Virginia reading , check out:

• These Are The 10 Dumbest Cities In West Virginia
• 10 Small Towns In West Virginia Where You’d Never Want To Live
• These Are The 10 Most Redneck Cities In West Virginia

Detailed List Of The Most Conservative Cities In West Virginia