Dating in Austin can suck, right?

A) You get on OKCupid and realize that your roommate, boss and the person you're sort of seeing are all on there.

B) You break up with someone and randomly run into them once a week for the rest of your life.

C) You meet someone great just to find out that they're heading to New York or L.A. in about 3 weeks and you'll never see them again.

Or will you? Because once they arrive in New York or L.A. they'll realize that dating for commitment in both those cities suck way more ass than Austin ever could.

In fact, Forbes, Sperling, Travel & Leisure, and Yahoo Travel, have all named Austin one of the five best cities for dating and singles. When I lived in Los Angeles, I encountered every cliche imaginable—the actor-slash-caterer without a car, the writer-slash-bartender without a car, the musician-slash-nothing without a car, and the coveted producer-lawyer-filmmaker with a car but without any personality or integrity.

I one time went out for a drinks with a comedian who suffered from "Stare at the Butt Syndrome," whether it was men, women, the elderly, children or dogs. The man's eyes were automatically directed to whatever butt walked by our table. Dating in L.A. was hard. Maybe it was my young age, but I was never able to find a partner who was in it for the long haul. Angelenos develop "Grass Is Greener On The Other Side Disease" or what is also informally known as, "Ooh, Shiny Object! Disease". Not only is the next person more beautiful, but they may be more helpful to your career ambitions.

As for New York City, though I've never lived there, my understanding is that, like out of a science fiction movie, women outnumber men, and many women feel that men are typically unavailable or only interested in hooking up. Also, people in New York are so busy they have difficulty finding time to go to the bathroom, let alone traverse boroughs to go out to dinner. As one New York friend pointed out, "Proximity is a big factor. I live in Park Slope, and it's pretty unlikely I would date a girl who lives in Astoria or Manhattan because of the hour-long train rides".

With that being said, if one only dates within their own borough, is the dating pool any larger than Austin's?

When I moved to Austin, I was immediately struck by the Texan congeniality that existed between men and women. Even if the person is not from Texas, Austin breeds a respect for one another that outsiders adapt once moving here. Instead of dealing with actors who only talked about themselves, I met gentlemen who were interested in hearing my story. Instead of going out with broke musicians who required you to not only pick them up, but also pay for dinner or drinks, I encountered broke musicians who at least had bicycles and could afford a $1 Lonestar.

I heard of stories of grandeur—flowers on first dates, reservations at restaurants, phone calls instead of booty texts and bike rides through the city. I met people who only work in the long-term relationship realm and it was refreshing. Even when relationships don't work out, ex-lovers often remain friends. You kind of have to here.

Now, I'm not naive. The idea that "attractive young women in Austin prefer to date dirty, hipster types that act uninterested in them" and "young men have difficulty finding young ladies without a butt-load of baggage" is not lost upon me. I've heard time and time again from male friends that they meet a pretty, hip young lady, only to find out that she has trust issues, plays games or is seeing multiple people. I've also heard from my lady friends that dudes here are only interested in "no strings attached" arrangements.

When I asked friends and acquaintances their experiences with dating in Austin for this post, I got a backlash of people saying that it was terrible place to date—mostly because you run the risk of running into your ex. For a minute I began questioning my idea that Austin was a wonderful city to date in. Maybe I was wrong? That just because my experiences have been favorable, or rather, substantially better than Los Angeles, doesn't mean that I know what I'm talking about.

But our experiences are the only thing we have to go off of and my experiences dating in Austin have been great. Even the ones that didn't work out. And most definitely the one that did.

So judge for yourself.