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10 Best Metros for Meeting Your Valentine

Written by Zillow.com
Published Feb 14, 2014
2 min read
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Looking for love?

The best place to find a Valentine’s date may not be too far away.

The nation’s top areas for singles may have the highest percentage of bachelors and bachelorettes, but financial factors are important, too.

After all, you’ll want to meet someone who can afford to date.

To create Zillow’s Valentine’s Day Index, we looked at areas with a large number of singles that have a high average income after rent, as well as the density of bars and restaurants making up the metro’s social scene and (of course) housing affordability.

San Francisco, the nation’s tech capital, ranked as the No. 1 metro for singles.

Why?

With more than half of the population (52.4 percent) unattached, you’ll have a large pool to choose from.

And despite high rents, singles in the area are making 65 percent more money than the national average.

Couple that with the high number of potential date spots, and you’ve got the perfect combination of disposable income and a vibrant social life.

But you don’t have to move west to secure a date this Valentine’s Day.

We ranked all metro areas with a population over 750,000 to construct the Index, and metros in every corner of the country scored pretty high.

Check out the map below to see the 10 best metros for singles.

Click on “Launch Infographic” for an expanded view.

Methodology: Zillow’s Valentine’s Day Index looks at three different features that make a metropolitan area an attractive locale for singles. We looked for areas with (1) a large proportion of singles, (2) a high average income after rent for those singles and (3) a large number of possible date spots in the area. Data on the proportion of singles and their income comes from the 2012 American Community Survey. We calculate income after rent by subtracting Zillow’s Rent Index (after adjusting it to an annual figure) from average income. The number of potential dating spots is measured by the number of restaurants, bars and entertainment (museums, parks, zoos, etc.) establishments per capita using data from the 2011 County Business Patterns. We looked at all metropolitan areas with a population over 750,000 to construct the index, which sums the national percentile rank of each metropolitan area across the three features. Each feature was given the same weight.

“10 Best Metros for Meeting Your Valentine” was provided by Zillow.com.