What are the odds?

Where should you live if you want to maximize your odds of meeting someone? A friend (thanks, Matt!) forwarded me an article from the Boston Globe by Richard Florida which shows a “singles map” of the U.S. (http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/03/30/a_singles_map_of_the_united_states_of_america/?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed3)

My favorite line in the article is that “smart women who gravitate to vibrant cities are more likely to stay single - for longer, at least - because they rightly refuse to settle for someone who can't keep up with them intellectually or otherwise.” Exactly. No incoherent e-mailers, please.

Unfortunately, in the NYC area, where I live, there are a LOT of smart, single women: there are 210,820 more single females than males here. With dismal odds like that, it’s amazing I’ve ever found anyone to date. Philly and Washington, D.C. are also better for men, with single women outnumbering single men by about 50,000 in each of those cities.

If I want a bigger pool to choose from, I have to move to Dallas (40,000 more single men than women), Phoenix (60,000 more single men than women), or San Francisco (also 60,000 more single men than women). Seattle, Las Vegas, Denver, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Honolulu are also good prospects. But in terms of sheer numbers, Los Angeles appears to be the winner, with 90,000 more single men than women.

No word on how many of these men are straight, however....