This was on the Netscape main--page today:


1. Denver-Boulder
2. Washington-Baltimore
3. Austin
4. Atlanta
5. Boston
6. Los Angeles
7. Phoenix
8. New York
9. San Francisco
10. Miami
11. Chicago
12. Dallas-Fort Worth
13. San Diego
14. Minneapolis-St. Paul
15. Philadelphia
16. Houston
17. Raleigh-Durham
18. Seattle
19. New Orleans
20. Orlando
21. Columbus
22. St. Louis
23. Milwaukee
24. Portland
25. Tampa
26. Las Vegas
27. Indianapolis
28. San Antonio
29. Nashville
30. Kansas City
31. Sacramento
32. Detroit
33. Cleveland
34. Salt Lake City
35. Providence
36. Charlotte
37. Greensboro
38. Norfolk
39. Cincinnati
40. Pittsburgh

I wonder how they come up with these rankings?

I have seen the list before, netscape puts it on the front page every once in a while.

http://www.forbes.com/2004/06/23/04singleland.html?partner=netscape

And The Methodology Behind It :

Methodology
Davide Dukcevich, 06.24.04, 5:00 PM ET

To determine the best city for singles, we ranked the 40 largest U.S. metropolitan centers in six different areas: nightlife, culture, job growth, number of other singles, cost of living alone and coolness. Each metro is assigned a ranking of one to 40 in each category, based on quantitative data. Those ranks are then averaged, and readers' preferences are incorporated to determine the final rankings.

Singles: The number of singles is based on the percentage of a metro's population above the age of 15 that has never been married. Data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Nightlife: Nightlife is based on the number of restaurants, bars and nightclubs in each standard metropolitan area. Last year we tweaked our formula to give a higher weighting to restaurants, with less importance given to bars and nightclubs. This year we went back to our old formula. Data provided by AOL CityGuide.

Culture: Our cultural index is determined by the number of museums, pro sports teams and live theaters, as well as the university population, in each metro. Data provided by AOL CityGuide and Montréal International.

Cost Of Living Alone: Our proprietary Cost Of Living Alone index is determined by the average cost of a metro area's apartment rent, a Pizza Hut pizza, a movie ticket and a six-pack of Heineken. The majority of the raw data was provided by Arlington, Va.-based ACCRA.

Job Growth: Job growth rankings are determined by the projected percentage of job growth over the next five years for each metro. Data provided by Washington, D.C.-based Woods & Poole Economics.

Coolness: Coolness is determined by an area's diversity and its number of creative workers (i.e., those whose jobs require creativity, such as artists, scientists, teachers and musicians). Richard Florida and Kevin Stolarick--both of Catalytix and Carnegie Mellon University--and Gary Gates of the Urban Institute provided the data.

Buzz Factor: Buzz factor is determined by the outcome of an interactive poll in which we asked our readers to give each city a thumbs-up, a thumbs-down or a shrug.

http://www.forbes.com/maserati/singles2004/cx_dd_04single_methodology.html

Denver?!

Denver?!

i think boulder is just as important as denver as that merger of cities they have there. boulder is a college town, so there are about 25,000 singles within a few square miles.

OMG--Las Vegas is just about homely old Indianapolis?
Woo hoo--Indy's got it goin' on!
Or..
Las Vegas isn't as happenin' as we think...?

:jk:

The results of the readers poll (i.e. where singles WANT to live) was:
1. New York (tie)
1. Chicago (tie)
3. Miami
4. San Diego
5. Las Vegas
6. Philly
7. New Orleans
8. Cincinnati
9. Atlanta
10. Washington DC

http://www.forbes.com/lists/results.jhtml?passListId=3&passYear=2004&passListType=Misc&searchParameter1=unset&searchParameter2=unset&resultsStart=1&resultsHowMany=40&resultsSortProperties=%2Bnumberfield1%2C%2Bstringfield1&resultsSortCategoryName=rank&category1=category&category2=category&passKeyword=

Who the hell wouldn't want to live in Chicago.

^^^ *raises hand* heheh...

but no, really it's a nice place to visit. I'd just never leave home ;)

Who the hell wouldn't want to live in Chicago.


Osama Bin Laden

Washington-Baltimore. *Cringe*

Is the **cringe** because they "merged" the two cities?

I used to get angry when this would happen, then I realized that it done deservedly so. Natives know the difference though.

It's just that with a question like, "which city is best for singles?" you are taking into account nightlife, places to meet, and the like, which differs significantly between the two cities. Especially with the changing bar and club scene in downtown Baltimore it is ridiculous to say that the two cities are homogeneous in this respect. When talking traffic, population, or demographics, I don't mind because these are more regional aspects.

Philly is a great place for singles bc the cost of living is relatively cheap, & it is a major urban college center (I believe most colleges other than boston)... You include all the nightlife & cultural venues, a lot of ways to meet people in this city...

The results of the readers poll (i.e. where singles WANT to live) was:
1. New York (tie)
1. Chicago (tie)
3. Miami
4. San Diego
5. Las Vegas
6. Philly
7. New Orleans
8. Cincinnati
9. Atlanta
10. Washington DC



^In the end, it's the Reader's Poll that matters more than some ass-clown calculation. The Reader's Poll reflects people's perceptions, and perceptions are what drive behavior.

I agree and disagree.

Both calculations are useful, perception is very important, and does drive behavior, but that doesn't mean that the behavior taken is the best one.

The cities listed provide the conditions that are seen as the best for singles. But perception is important too, obviously. Perception, I don't like in some cases, because it's wrong. There are a lot of people that haven't spent a whole lot of time in more than one place for their life and have no clue what's going on in some places except for what they see on television.

So perception does drive behavior, but I think the polls with some data are good b/c they may spur some interest for some to really see how a place is.

Being from DC I don't mind the merging of the two cities, if you really think that B'more's bar and club scene is better than DC's you're out of your mind. DC's nightlife is dynamic, exciting and very underrated. Not knocking B'more, but I think it's the cost of living, location economy and relative attractiveness of the city that puts it ahead of many, not nightlife and culture, while they're both good, DC is better.

And while it may be "ass-clown", these perceptions IMO are a little off if Cincinnati and New Orleans would take spots from San Francisco or Boston or LA, the Texas big cities, Seattle, or a whole bunch of others, considering it is where singles WANT to live.

If you have the social skills you can be a happy single pretty much anywhere. Places with big schools seem to have an edge. I was in Lincoln (home of the Huskers) last year and just going in the store and restaurant every woman seemed to just throw themselves at you. Austin was pretty similiar but the women there didn't seem as willing to throw themselves at you.

Singles want to be around other singles, and activities.

Sometimes I really think everyone on these forums are 19. (too old to think, and too young to drink.)

Why some dumb phuc would say the nighlife is better based on the size of a city is foolish. The question is about singles. (use all that apply)

I'll put my money on NY, Vegas, Miami or LA any day.

Reason:
More choices of entertainment. Beaches, clubs, bars, movie makings, shows, festivals, high paying jobs, etc. Where singles hang, meet and greet. The more people have to do, the better the bodies. The better the bodies, the more people meet up. The more they meet up, the more likely they'll want to live.

There's a reason Seattle is 18 and not 1 or 41.
LOTS OF RICH PEOPLE, LOTS OF RAIN!!

NUFF SED!

Yes, it would be dumb to say that nightlife is better based on size, I don't know who did. But, anyway, I agree, I think that culture and economy/cost of living are by far the most important factors for singles.

As a single, I like the selection of cities at the top b/c while having fun is great, I think regardless of whether it's right or not, the us lifestyle is more stressful and you have to put food on the table, and I think that priority is higher than the fun part, even though that's really important, that's why I can agree with a lot of the rankings.

I read the way they came up with their rankings. As for Nightlife, the only meter they chose was the total number of restaurants. They ignored nightclubs, closing times, ect.

Nightlife is based on the number of restaurants, bars and nightclubs in each standard metropolitan area. Last year we tweaked our formula to give a higher weighting to restaurants, with less importance given to bars and nightclubs. This year we went back to our old formula. Data provided by AOL CityGuide.

Miami