I'm lucky that they place I'm at has a basement. Stays cool at night, even with the AC off and it gets to be 100+ outside during the day.
//Wouldn't have managed the year when the AC broke without it.
But during the day, AC.
My folks try to get by with just a swamp cooler, but it's always 80+ degrees in their house in the summer and it seems to constantly break down (especially because they have hard water and my dad won't swing for a water softener; he has a lot of 'penny wise, pound foolish' behavior)
//Really don't like visiting them in the summer, and it's actually a good 10 degrees cooler where they live than where I do.