Hooking that hottie is hard enough without the odds stacked against you, so the city researchers at Sperling's BestPlaces have identified for you "America's Best and Worst Cities for Dating."
The study is based on criteria that includes percentage of singles ages 18-24, population density, and dating venues per capita such as concerts, coffee shops, bars, bowling alleys, etc., and includes 80 metro areas in America. We teamed up with AXE Deodorant Bodyspray, which specializes in the dating game, to find out which city is revered as the D.C. (Dating Capital) of the U.S.
Yee haw! Austin, Texas, tops the list of best cities to play the dating game. Is the city you call home the place to find that special someone?
"Large cities that everyone associates with socializing, like Los Angeles and Miami, did not rank particularly high, scoring lower in categories like coffee shops per capita and flowers bought as gifts," said Bert Sperling, president of Sperling's BestPlaces.
"But cities like Austin (No. 1), Colorado Springs (No. 2) and Ann Arbor (No. 8) were not a complete surprise - they are heavy-populated college towns and it's easy for young singles to get together."
Below are some of the reasons that large cities like Detroit, Atlanta and Houston bottomed out in the study.
"We've received feedback from some of the lowest ranking cities, and it appears our findings are on-track," noted Sperling. "In these cities, there are relatively few young singles and the towns are so spread out, it can be difficult for them to find each other. Some are using this study as a call to action to provide places where people can hang out and get together."
The Wichita Eagle comments about this study, "This survey might be tragically accurate. In the last year, this reporter has received dozens of complaints and pleas for help from singles ranging in age from early 20s to late 60s. Their gripes are all similar. They want to meet someone special but don't know how to do it or where to go. And they certainly don't want to prowl smoky bars waiting to be picked up and/or rejected"
The study is based on the most currently available figures from the Census Bureau (population characteristics and statistics), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (frequency of sexual partners), Match.com (online daters), and criteria from leading relationship experts who weighed categories in terms of dating importance.