Looking for Love? Surprisingly, Singles Should Avoid These Cities

seb_ra /iStock

Singles looking for love—or even a packed social calendar—may want to think twice before moving to Riverside, CA.

Just about an hour and a half outside Los Angeles (depending on that all-determining traffic), Riverside was named the worst metro in the nation for renters when it comes to dating and making new friends, according to a recent survey by Apartment List.

The rental website asked more than 13,000 renters across the country to rate their opportunities to find a mate and friends in their neighborhoods and cities. The 30 metros that received the most responses from residents were then ranked for the report.

The worst metros to find the love of your life

In Riverside, only 28.4% of respondents were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with local opportunities to forge new romantic—and platonic—relationships, according to the survey. Men were definitely happier with the situation than women, with 44.4% of them giving the metro high marks, compared with just 26.4% of women.

“It’s not one of those places that is super thriving,” like the San Francisco Bay Area, says Chris Salviati, a data analyst at Apartment List. “It’s not attracting as many young people.”

Riverside is known as the birthplace of the state’s citrus industry and is home to more than 20,000 students at the University of California, Riverside.

The next worst city on the list was Orlando, FL, with just 35.4% of participants giving the thumbs-up. Rounding out the top 10 dating wastelands were Seattle, Detroit, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Denver, and San Francisco.

The most romantic metros for singles

Overall, about 48% of participants were happy with their shots at love and friendship, while about 22% were not, according to the survey. And men and college-educated renters were generally more happy with opportunities to find love than women or those without degrees.

On the other hand, the best place for singles looking for love was Raleigh, NC. Yup, that’s right.

“Raleigh is definitely a place that has been growing quite a bit and attracting a lot of millennials,” Salviati says. And those new transplants “are more likely to be going out and being social.”

About two-thirds of respondents in the capital of North Carolina, which is a tech and innovation hub, felt positively about their dating options. The city is also home to about a dozen colleges and universities, including Duke University.

That may be because life in the small Southern city isn’t as stressful as some of the bigger cities like New York or San Francisco, people are friendlier, and the cost of living is less. (The median rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the city was just $1,010 as of Feb. 1, according to Apartment List. It was $4,110 in New York and $4,610 in San Francisco.)

“You have happier people” in Raleigh, says Paige Armstrong, a Raleigh-based clinical social worker specializing in relationship issues. “You can stand in line at the Whole Foods and have a conversation with the stranger who’s next to you. In other cities, you might stand in line and be lucky to get a smile.”

However, while Raleigh may be a bachelor’s paradise, it didn’t score so highly with the single ladies. About 94% of men rated the metro positively, while just 53% of women did the same, according to the survey.

After Raleigh, residents of San Antonio; Boston; Charlotte, NC; and Washington, DC, gave their metros high marks for finding love and friendship. Austin, TX; Baltimore; Tampa, FL; Houston; and New York City fleshed out the top 10.

The post Looking for Love? Surprisingly, Singles Should Avoid These Cities appeared first on Real Estate News & Advice | realtor.com®.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2ku7gm4