Texas, Austin Among Best Places For Valentine's Day, Singles

AUSTIN, TX — Valentine-bereft singles: You still have a week to find your plus-one for Feb. 14! And if a pair of new reports are to be believed, Texas in general and Austin in particular are among the nation's best places for singles.

Austin ranked in the top 15 of cities nationwide for singles in a WalletHub survey titled 2018's Best Places for Valentine’s Day. The city ranked highly in various categories measuring how conducive the city's dynamics are for singles. In a scale of one to 50, the city ranked:

• 5th – in terms of the average ticket price for a Valentine’s Day party.
• 24th – for cost of a three-course meal for two.
• 20th – for restaurants per capita.
• 15th – in number of attractions.
• 15th – as it relates to average movie ticket price.
• 22nd – in the "Jewelry Stores per Capita" category.
• 28th – in the number of florists per capita.
• 16th – for average beverage price.
• 18th – for greeting card stores & gift shops per capita.

To determine the most romantic yet affordable cities for celebrating the Day of Hearts, WalletHub compared 100 of the largest U.S. cities across 23 key metrics, ranging from florists per capita to forecaste precipitation to cost of a three-course meal for two.

Here's a Valentine's Day fun fact from the personal finance website: Lovebirds throughout the country will spend an average of $143.56 each on Feb. 14. Here's another: Lovesick shoppers shell out more than $19 billion in Cupid’s name each year, making Valentine’s Day the third-largest consumer holiday in the U.S.

But it may be fear, not love, that motivates such spending, WalletHub analysts noted. Roughly 45 percent of people expect their Valentine to spend at least $50 on a gift, according to WalletHub’s survey. And 4 in 10 people would break up with their significant other if he or she spent irresponsibly.

Love is a many-splintered thing. To see the full report, click here.

Related story: Valentine's Day Dining, Events Guide: Austin Edition

For those outside of Austin: Don't fret as the entire state is a good place for singles, according to WalletHub. The state ranked 4th overall in the country, measured against similar metrics. All told, 27 indicators of dating friendliness were taken into account with the data set ranging from share of single adults to movie costs to night life options per capita.

Some notable highlights in the Texas reckoning:

• 30th – Online-Dating Opportunities
• 14th – Mobile-Dating Opportunities
• 10th – Median Annual Household Income (Adjusted for Cost of Living)
• 4th – Restaurants per Capita
• 2nd – Movie Theaters per Capita

For the full 2018's Best & Worst States for Singles report, click here.

And cheer up, singles! Your soul mate could be just around the corner in the Lone Star State! Yee-haw!

>>> Image via Shutterstock