I saw this on yahoo while checking my mail:
The Best Cities For Singles
Michael Noer, Forbes.com
Sep 4th, 2008
Atlanta tops our annual ranking of America's best places to live on your own.
For the first time ever, Atlanta tops our list of the best cities for singles. The capital of Georgia and home of Coca-Cola earns the top slot because of its hopping nightlife, relatively high number of singles and sizzling job growth.
To those who know "Hotlanta," the ranking should come as no surprise. In the eight years that we have been ranking America's largest urban areas in terms of their friendliness to the nation's 74 million single adults, only once did Atlanta place outside the top 10.
To determine which U.S. cities are most comfortable for soloists, we ranked the 40 largest urbanized areas in mainland America in seven different categories: number of singles, nightlife, culture, cost of living alone, job growth, online dating activity and coolness. To determine a city's cool factor, we partnered with Harris Interactive, who conducted a poll, asking, "Among the following U.S. Cities, which one do you think is the coolest?"
Last year's winner, San Francisco, came in second this year, scoring particularly high in coolness (third out of 40) and culture (fourth). Overall, the coolest city was New York, while Midwestern fly-over cities like Indianapolis (40th) and Columbus, Ohio, (35th) did poorly on the Harris poll.
Overall, New York ranked as only the eighth-best place for would-be lovers. In addition to its top score in coolness, the Big Apple was ranked as the city with the best nightlife and the third-best cultural resources. But young singles need to eat as well as party, and New York scored dead last in the cost-of-living category. The city also placed a mediocre 29th in terms of job growth. Economic factors have always kept New York out of the top spot on our list.
The nation's second-largest city, Los Angeles, came in 16th this year, a precipitous drop from its third-place finish in 2007. Blame the cost of living in sun-drenched SoCal and a lackadaisical online dating culture.
Jacksonville, Fla., ranked dead last this year, scoring poorly in all categories except online dating, where it ranked seventh. Providence, R.I., last year's loneliest city for singletons, fared better, tying with Memphis, Tenn., and Cincinnati, Ohio, for 33rd place. Religious Salt Lake City, a perennial at the bottom of our list, comes in 39th this year. Mormonism's hometown is penalized for its lack of available singles (39th), dismal nightlife (39th) and its square image (coolness: 38th).
Some surprises: Orlando, Fla., which had never placed in the top 10 before, came in ninth place. Minneapolis-St. Paul hadn't made the top 10 since 2002 but came in third this year. The Twin Cities scored well in culture (ninth) and online dating (sixth) and ranked surprisingly high in coolness (eighth). Perhaps some respondents thought the Harris poll was asking about the weather.
Our rankings are meant to be a guide for young, ambitious singles who, in an age of techno-mobility, can live and work wherever they want. Our methodology focuses on career-minded, "never-marrieds" under the age of 35. Older singles, divorcees, widows and widowers might find slightly different criteria more relevant to them.
Looks like singles here spend too much time in front of their computers rather than hook ups... :D
we've always been at the bottom of those rankings.
here's another article released today (also from yahoo, lol) on the same topic
http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/going-solo-in-the-usa.html;_ylc=X3oDMTFpaTViZTJvBF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEX3MDOTc2MjA0NjUEc2VjA2ZwLXRvZGF5BHNsawNnb2luZy1zb2xv
1. Atlanta
2. San Francisco
3. Dallas
4. Minneapolis
5. Washington D.C.
6. Seattle
7. Boston
8. New York City
9. Orlando
10. Phoenix
11. Chicago
12. Denver-Aurora
13. Miami
14. Austin
15. San Antonio
16. Los Angeles
17. Houston
18. Charlotte
19. San Diego
20. St. Louis
21. Columbus
22. Philadelphia
23. Tampa-St. Petersburg
24. Las Vegas
25. Baltimore
26. Virginia Beach-Norfolk
27. Detroit
28. Pittsburgh
29. Portland
30. Buffalo
31. Milwaukee
32. Sacramento
33. Cincinnati
34. Memphis
35. Providence
36. Kansas City
37. Indianapolis
38. Cleveland
39. Salt Lake City
40. Jacksonville
I am surprised Jacksonville scored low in cost of living. I guess lack of public transportation could play into that. The no state income tax should have helped.
who honestly gives a f*ck about this stupid list, seriously. ::)
Quote from: reednavy on October 07, 2008, 03:36:23 PM
who honestly gives a f*ck about this stupid list, seriously. ::)
I disagree.
I think a stat like this is very telling, and should be taken seriously by those who run this city or those who would like to see Jacksonville grow. What's the alternative, burying your head in the sand and pretending like the study is biased or inaccurate?
It can be sugar coated or spun a thousand different ways -- too much sprawl, you're not going to right place, etc. -- but the fact reminds, the night life in Jacksonville is on life support. Dead as a door nail. A club or two at the beach, a couple more downtown, and that's about it. All sparsely populated except for the weekends, and even then, it's not exactly the hippest scene.
I have friends who come into town, drive in, see this big shiny skyline, beautiful modern shopping centers, a beautiful beach, and expect to go out at 11:00 and hit some trendy club. I feel bad, because there's really no where to take them.
I hate to say it, but I think the problem is the population as much as the infrastructure. I love Jacksonville and see myself here for decades to come, but the residents aren't exactly the trendy type. I really noticed this at the Club Paris opening. That place really had a buzz for the first two weeks or so, but even on opening night, it wasn't the cool, hip, young professional crowd you see in cities like those listed higher on that list. It was a lot of folks in their 30s, a lot of married couples, surprisingly casual dress, and to top it all off, John Peyton dancing.
It seems like the entire 18-34 demographic has somehow been purged from the city of Jacksonville. Walking around a place like the Town Center, you see a lot of cool teenagers. Trendy guys, pretty girls. You see a lot of people in their late 30’s and on as well. But that middle demo, if they’re there in any large number, I haven’t a clue where they’re hiding.
You guys are far more studied in this stuff than I am. What is the secret to keeping this age group in Jacksonville and drawing new young professionals in? Jobs? Bars? Shopping malls? I haven’t a clue.
KenFSU ... I think the basic answer is that most of them are away at college and grad school.
Jacksonville is noteworthy for its lack of higher education options for a city its size. If it weren't for the massive growth of UNF recently, Jax wouldn't really have much at all. As it stands, Jax has something like 20,000 at UNF, maybe? Plus a couple more and JU and Edward waters. FCCJ is what it is. At best, that's either vocational stuff, or the students move on to another school (in another city) to finish the last 2 years.
How many Jax natives actually go to college in Jax? Not too many. There's your lack of young professional types right there. No one is around from 19-22 years old, and lots of them end up finding their first jobs elsewhere.
In my high school class, something like 5 people, out of a class of 200, actually stayed in Jax for college. I don't know of anyone who did grad school in Jax. Very few people returned to town after school either. (Granted, I went to a small private school, but I think it's a good example regarding the lack of young professionals)
QuoteYou guys are far more studied in this stuff than I am. What is the secret to keeping this age group in Jacksonville and drawing new young professionals in? Jobs? Bars? Shopping malls? I haven’t a clue.
I think to some extent it's a chicken-egg issue. Young, single professionals tend to flock to cities where there are other young, single professionals. This article and list certainly won't help matters.
Anyone know where Jax scored in each of the categories?
OK it wasn't hard to find.
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/3/forbeslife-cx_singles08_Jacksonville_2505.html (http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/3/forbeslife-cx_singles08_Jacksonville_2505.html)
Singles 38
Nightlife 38
Coolness 32
Culture 40
Job Growth 18
Online Dating 7
Cost Of Living Alone 27
This list should not mean much to people who live in Jacksonville. We have a lot going on in this city and it will only get better as our city grows and our universities grow. People expect so much out of a city a little larger than 1 million people deep. I don't think we should settle for what we have, but we should make the best of our innate city attributes and value them kindly. There are enough things to do and see out there, sometimes you just have to get out there and be a participant instead of being a pessimist. Explore your city, make things happen!
Wonderful point Professor.
Thanks! Jax
I can say with confidence that any list that ranks Detroit as a better locale for singles is flawed - did everyone divorce?.......Also consider that it's one of the rust belt cities in America that has continued to decline in population while Jacksonville has grown. Bogus.
I think it is the obvious lack of a strong urban component Jax really has about everything else.
Quote from: Traveller on October 07, 2008, 05:37:43 PM
QuoteYou guys are far more studied in this stuff than I am. What is the secret to keeping this age group in Jacksonville and drawing new young professionals in? Jobs? Bars? Shopping malls? I haven’t a clue.
I think to some extent it's a chicken-egg issue. Young, single professionals tend to flock to cities where there are other young, single professionals. This article and list certainly won't help matters.
How about good paying jobs?
Quote from: blizz01 on October 07, 2008, 06:34:32 PM
I can say with confidence that any list that ranks Detroit as a better locale for singles is flawed - did everyone divorce?.......Also consider that it's one of the rust belt cities in America that has continued to decline in population while Jacksonville has grown. Bogus.
Good point. These lists are largely bunk. They even list Buffalo above Jacksonville. How can you meet anyone single in Buffalo when everyone is leaving town??
Quote from: civil42806 on October 07, 2008, 09:34:53 PM
Quote from: Traveller on October 07, 2008, 05:37:43 PM
QuoteYou guys are far more studied in this stuff than I am. What is the secret to keeping this age group in Jacksonville and drawing new young professionals in? Jobs? Bars? Shopping malls? I haven’t a clue.
I think to some extent it's a chicken-egg issue. Young, single professionals tend to flock to cities where there are other young, single professionals. This article and list certainly won't help matters.
How about good paying jobs?
Good number of those are out on JTB and vicinity!