In the age of dating apps, finding love can feel less like a romantic comedy and more like a psychological horror movie.
Among hours of swiping left and right, tedious dates with tedious people, and adjusting sometimes inscrutable romantic norms, it’s no wonder that only 42% of single adults said they were looking for love in one 2022 Pew survey.
Despite the dismal dating scene, some studies indicate that marriage still provides significant benefits. Gallup well-being data from 2009 to 2023 revealed that married people are 16% more likely to be thriving than people who have never been married, based on respondents’ ratings of their current and future lives.
If you’re still seeking romance, the solution might be to abandon dating apps and meetups that feel more like job interviews, April Davis, the founder of boutique dating service Luma Luxury Matchmaking, told Quartz in February.
“Consider your hobbies and interests and go to those places to meet people,” Davis said. “When you’re trying to meet new people, it’s really important to remember to acknowledge people, look them in the eye, and smile. I think we, as a society, are kind of closed-off and cold at times. We look down at our phones and aren’t even aware of what’s going on around us.”
Single men who are looking for love (despite challenging odds) can look to the style website Men’s Flair, which recently conducted an analysis of 100 American cities to determine which locations had the most to offer — and which guys are better off avoiding.
The analysis was based on performance across eight categories: pubs and bars per 100,000 people, the percentage of the population between the ages of 20 and 30, the ratio of unmarried men to unmarried women, the median age, the unemployment rate, the average income, the cost of groceries, and the cost to rent a one-bedroom apartment.
The best cities for single men are spread across the country, while the worst cities are largely concentrated in Florida and the southwestern states. Click through to learn which cities are a haven for single men looking for love.
