Is the dating pool in your area lacking? Never fear; Sperling’s BestPlaces has teamed up with AXE to determine the best American cities for dating, which just may be worth a visit if you’re in the market for a new bae. They’ve also identified the worst cities in the U.S. for dating. Keep reading to find out if your city made either list.
In conducting the study, various criteria were considered. The team of researchers took into account the number of dating venues (bars, bowling alleys, coffee shops, etc.) per capita, as well as cities’ population densities and their percentage of singles in the 18-24 age range. They also considered interesting related criteria, such as the number of intimate apparel stores, and how often flowers and jewelry are purchased as gifts.
So, without further ado, the top ten rankings for the best and worst cities in America for dating are…*drumroll*
Best U.S. Cities For Dating
- Austin, TX
- Colorado Springs, CO
- San Diego, CA
- Raleigh/Durham, NC
- Seattle, WA
- Charleston, SC
- Norfolk, VA
- Ann Arbor, MI
- Springfield, MA
- Honolulu, HI
Worst U.S. Cities For Dating
- Kansas City, MO
- Wichita, KS
- Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
- Detroit, MI
- Louisville, KY
- Greensboro/Winston-Salem, NC
- Atlanta, GA
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Houston, TX
- Charlotte, NC
Interestingly, some bigger cities with thriving social scenes that one might expect to make the “best” list, did not. According to Bert Sperling, president of Sperling’s BestPlaces, cities like Miami and L.A. did not rank high due to “scoring lower in categories like coffee shops per capita and flowers bought as gifts.”
Cities that did manage to rank high on the list were able to do so due to different factors. College towns like Austin, Colorado Springs, Raleigh, and Ann Arbor have large populations of young people who can easily get together to mingle, meet, and hang out with others.
Cities like San Diego and Honolulu scored big in the diversity area, making them ideal locales for meeting people of different cultures and backgrounds.
On the other end of the spectrum, cities topping the “worst” list include those with lower numbers of establishments for daters.
Wichita and Greensboro have the lowest number of coffee shops per capita, and Atlanta, surprisingly, has a lower number of new bars. This means young people have fewer venues in which to get together.
Retail factors in, as well. In Detroit and Minneapolis, jewelry is purchased as gifts less often, and Houston is one of the cities with less lingerie shops per capita.
Do you live in one of the cities mentioned here? What has your experience been? Do you agree or disagree with the study’s findings? Click here to view the complete list of rankings.
