Single? Austin May Not Be Best Place For Love, Report Says

AUSTIN, TX — Singe and looking for love in Austin? You might be better off in Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco or any of 23 other cities ranked as the best cities for the unattached.

With more than 45 percent of all U.S. adults being single during the holidays — the most family-oriented time of the year— the personal-finance website WalletHub on Monday released its report Best & Worst Cities for Singles. Analysts at the personal finance website compared more than 180 U.S. cities across 32 key indicators of dating-friendliness with a data set including number of online dating opportunities and nightlife options per capita.

Given those metrics, Austin was ranked at the 26th-best city for singles. But take heart: Austin fared better than all other Texas cities, including 33rd-ranked Houston and 43rd-ranked San Antonio. And take comfort from your ennui-suffused solitude in knowing you're not living in Laredo and Brownsville, both cellar dwellers on the list in the 174th and 181st rankings, respectively.

According to the report, the nation's best cities for singles are:

• San Francisco
• Atlanta
• Los Angeles
• Denver
• San Diego, Calif.
• Seattle
• Chicago
• Portland, Ore.
• Minneapolis
• Portland, Maine

The worst cities for singles are:

• Charleston, W.V.
• Laredo, Texas
• Lewiston, Maine
• Pearl City, Hawaii
• Yonkers, N.Y.
• Warwick, R.I.
• Hialeah, Fla.
• Pembroke Pines, Fla
• Brownsville, Texas
• South Burlington, Vt.

Among the report's other key findings:

• Detroit has the highest share of single persons, 73.76 percent, which is 1.9 times higher than in Fremont, California, the city with the lowest at 38.06 percent.
• Gilbert, Arizona, has the highest share of households with a broadband connection (as a proxy for “online dating opportunities”), 95.9 percent, which is 2.2 times higher than in Brownsville, Texas, the city with the lowest at 42.7 percent.
• Garden Grove, California, has the lowest average restaurant-meal cost, $12.78, which is 6.3 times lower than in Juneau, Alaska, the city with the highest at $80.00.
• Indianapolis has the lowest average price for a bottle of wine, $3.79, which is 3.7 times lower than in Raleigh, North Carolina, the city with the highest at $13.99.
• Port St. Lucie, Florida, has the lowest average price for a movie ticket, $6.21, which is 2.4 times lower than in Los Angeles and Oxnard, California, the cities with the highest at $14.81.
• New York has the most nightlife options (per square root of population), 1.86, which is 93 times more than in West Valley City, Utah, the city with the fewest at 0.02.

To view the full report and view the methodogy used, click here.

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