Actually, Rockford is, well, not conservative, but they do have one R representative to the house, and the dem has a 75% from the NRA, even though she seems willing to spend a shit ton of money. It's less of a socialist hellhole than the other 9 cities on the list, but that's not saying much. The one thing Rockford does have is insanely high property tax rates, 10% or more.
That's one thing they DO all have in common.