Cupid’s bull’s-eye
Austin gets some love as one of the top U.S. cities for singles, study says
If you’re single, Austin reigns as one of the best U.S. cities in which to mingle in hopes of finding a new love.
Personal finance website WalletHub ranks Austin fifth best for singles among more than 180 cities. Ahead of Austin on the list are No. 1 Madison, Wisconsin, followed by Seattle; Portland, Oregon; and Denver.
To determine where singles enjoy the best prospects for finding love, WalletHub compared 182 cities across 32 key indicators of dating friendliness. Those indicators include the number of single people, number of online dating opportunities, and average price of a two-person meal.
Austin ranks 15th in the “fun and recreation” category, 26th in the “dating opportunities” category, and 91st in the economic category.
Rebecca Johnson, a graduate teaching assistant in communication studies at the University of Kansas, tells WalletHub that she doesn’t think people should choose where to live based solely on how likely they are to find a partner there.
“My advice is to live your life according to your own pursuits and interests. If you are in a place where you can pursue the activities and hobbies you have an interest in, you are likelier to find others around that are interested in such things and follow the commonalities into building a relationship,” Johnson says.
Only one other Texas city appears in WalletHub’s top 50: Lubbock, ranked No. 47. Here’s how several other Texas cities fared in the study:
- Houston, No. 55.
- San Antonio, No. 58.
- Dallas, No. 77.
- Irving, No. 87.
- Arlington, No. 109.
- Fort Worth, No. 115.
- Plano, No. 119.
- Garland, No. 162.
- Grand Prairie, No. 168.