Austin Is The Nation's Best City For Dating, National Survey Says

AUSTIN, TEXAS — With Valentine's Day upon us again, singles might wonder where the best place might be to find love, to have cupid's arrows slung in our general direction, to locate our soulmate. If a recent survey is to be believed, that place is Austin.

The folks at Apartment List — a platform connecting renters with apartment listings through an online marketplace — researched the matter ahead of the day devoted to love and affection in its report titled "The Best & Worst Cities for Dating 2019."

What researchers found after interviewing tens of thousands of single renters is that Austin reigns love supreme in terms of dating opportunities among the nation's top major cities.

In compiling its list of best and worst U.S. cities for dating, Apartment List found that 39.8 percent of survey respondents reported satisfaction with their dating opportunities. That was the highest level of satisfaction, with Charlotte, N.C.; San Francisco; Minneapolis, MN; and Little Rock, AR rounding out the top five, in descending order (Little Rock?!?! Who knew Arkansas was such an amorous hotbed).

But as most things in life, it all really depends on one's perspective — and split along gender lines (because men are from Mars and women are from Venus, it's been said). Among the 26,000 singles surveyed, the survey found that men, in general, are significantly more satisfied with dating than women. The 14th ranked city for men (Minneapolis, MN) has a higher satisfaction rate than the 1st ranked city for women (Austin).

The upshot: Men are the most satisfied with dating opportunities in Charlotte, while women are the most content in Austin, researchers found.

So what if you're not living in Austin? Are there other cities in Texas where true love can be found? Or are singles elsewhere in Texas doomed to a life of unrequited love and/or spinsterhood/bachelorhood? Well, chances at love are good in eighth-ranked Dallas, according to the survey.

But you might be out of luck elsewhere in the Lone Star State because not other Texas city made the top ten list overall. Sorry, members of the lonely hearts club.

Like the nuanced vagaries and complications inherent to the tactics of love, the list breaks down survey results according to dating satisfaction levels among Millennials and and college-educated singles. In the former category, Austin drops down to the third slot — trailing Charlotte, NC and Minneapolis, MN — with a 46.82 percent satisfaction rating. In the latter category surveying college-educated singles, Austin also drops to the third slot with an overall satisfaction level of 43.37 percent. Among the non-college-educated, Austin ranked fourth, with 34.14 percent of respondents expressing satisfaction. Dallas ranked second in satisfaction level among the non-college-educated.

Those in San Antonio might want to pack their bags and make the short move north to Austin. According to the list, the Alamo City is among the worst cities for dating with a 29.97 percent overall satisfaction level in trailing Miami. Other cities in that loveless list are, in descending order: Jacksonville, FL; Raleigh, NC; Detroit, MI; Kansas City, MO; St. Louis, MO; Baltimore, MD; Sacramento, CA; and Riverside, CA.

In terms of the report's methodology, data are based on results from the Apartment List renter survey conducted last year between Feb. 15 and Dec. 31, with results based on responses from more than 26,000 renters. Renters who are married or in a long-term committed relationship were excluded from the study, Apartment List researchers said.

Renters were asked: “How would you rate your current city or neighborhood for opportunities to date?” Possible responses were: Very Satisfied, Somewhat Satisfied, Neutral, Somewhat Unsatisfied, Very Unsatisfied.

Rankings are based on the share of renters who report being very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with opportunities to date, analysts said, adding that the minimum sample size for each city was 25. Gender satisfaction breakdowns are included for cities with a minimum of 20 responses for both men and women. The city rankings incorporate ratings from both heterosexual and LGBTQIA respondents, researcher added.

To see the full report, click here.

But, in the end, what do they know of love? It's a human virtue that has confounded the ages, an emotional land mine where even wise men fear to tread. Love is where you find it when one opens one's heart, throws caution to the wind and lets love in.

So don't put all your currency on a list devoid of human emotion and nuance, but maybe just use it very loosely as a guide. Love is much more complex than the coldness of statistics, with beauty — both innate and physical — in the eye of the beholder. "Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds," William Shakespeare once wrote. "Or bends with the remover to remove."

You're darn tootin', Billy S! So get out there, singles, and find true love — at your own pace and regardless of your location! Happy Valentine's Day! And may you find love.

Get Patch's Daily Newsletters and Real Time Alerts

>>> Top image via Aleksandar Milutinovic/Shutterstock