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Love on the Rockies: Denver singles like it on top

Contributed by: Allyson Reedy on 8/2/2006

We've all seen the headline by now - Denver is the top city in America for singles.

And we've all heard the singles grumbling about how much crack those suits over at Forbes must have been smoking when making that determination. As a statistician by trade, I wondered how exactly they came to the conclusion that Denver is the place to be in the dating and mating game.

First I learned that this is not the first time that the Denver-Boulder metro area has won this coveted award. No, no my friends - we have been on top for 3 consecutive years. Gosh, you'd think with that kind of praise we'd all be married by now! I also learned that we beat out 39 - count 'em - 39 other metro areas around the country for the title.

They used seven criteria for their rankings. First is nightlife, which measured the number of restaurants, bars and nightclubs. Then culture, taking into account museums, sports teams, theater, concert venues and universities. Funny, I thought the difference between nightlife and culture was going to a bar that serves wine.

Also factored is job growth, the projected percentage increase in employment opportunities in coming years. Next is the cost of living, for which they took the average price of an apartment, a pizza hut pizza, a movie ticket and a 6-pack of Heineken (no I am not making this up, that is actually what they used).

A measure I could definitely get behind, coolness, comes next. But here my definition of coolness and Forbes' definition differ. While I was thinking of our mountains and plethora of fun outdoor activities as being pretty cool, they were thinking of diversity and the prevalence of creative jobs, such as artists and writers.

Oh well, at least we both agree that Denver is cool. Next is online dating activity based on the number of active profiles per capita. Am I the only one who thinks this should work against a city as being good for singles? Sadly, Denver ranked second in this criteria.

Rounding out the list is the number of other singles in the area, but it is limited to those who have never been married and includes anyone over 15. Therefore you're out if you've been divorced, but in if you just got your learner's permit. This measure was weighted double because what good is living in a cool, affordable city, they reason, if there's no one to share it with.

For the most part their criteria isn't half bad. But I do take offense to the number of other singles being weighted so highly. Automatically this puts every college town at an advantage. And who decided that? Obviously men put this one in there, because no single woman thinks that an abundance of 18-22 year old guys makes being single any easier.

If Forbes were to ask you what makes a great environment for singles, what would you say? Income, number of plastic surgeons and proximity to hit men? No, that wouldn't be fair - then we'd never beat L.A. I think education should be on the list, along with my definition of coolness (and yes they would have to come to me to ask how cool I think each of the metro areas are - and let me tell you, Phoenix and Columbus would not fare nearly so well in my ranking).

I think the man-woman ratio is also important. Silicon Valley has a huge proportion of singles, but they're all men, and contrary to popular belief they don't all swing that way. I'd also only count singles above the legal drinking age because any younger than that isn't really single so much as amateurish.

Whatever your criteria, Denver really is a pretty great city in which to be single. Our cosmopolitan-meets-country mix of people makes going out a constant adventure, and our urban scene trumped only by our mountain scenes is truly something to appreciate.

Ultimately I must agree with the authors of this study - Denver, quit your whining.


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Showing 1-2 of 2 comments
Submitted By: Lynne Green
posted on 4/17/2007 @ 3:40:22 PM
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In a national survey Forbes claims that Denver is the best city for singles yet it is the worst place to date according to AOL’s survey! Who has time to date with all the outdoor activities in Camp Colorado. The best place to meet people is in a group and you can find some cool Denver Singles and Social Networking groups on http://www.singlesonthego.com/denver/
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Submitted By: Joe Smith
posted on 9/1/2006 @ 10:49:47 AM
(Not Rated)
I agree with many of your points. Number of single people? Could that mean they're looking and not finding? Number of match.com and eharmony subscriptions?!? Male:female ratio, accounting for age and demographics would be meaningful. Denver/Boulder's is one of the highest for the 30-ish and straight. Culture? Denver might be more "cultured" than, say, Tulsa. A few nice museums, yes. But the "Culture" in Denver's probably more oriented to suburbia and instant gratification the SUV can bring in the mountains than arts or diversity. This is basically a midwestern, very caucasian town. That's no secret, and the demograhpics are easy to look up. There might be some central Americans here, but, it's actually pretty segregated (and probably too expensive and too Anglo in Boulder for most immigrants that aren't Anglo themselves). I'd love to meet a woman like you, Allyson, to share this place with, but that seems easier said than done relative to other places I've lived.
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Showing 1-2 of 2 comments
CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Allyson Reedy

Littleton , CO

Allyson Reedy has posted 46 stories and 23 comments since joining on 6/13/2006. Allyson Reedy 's average story rating is 4.88.
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