State College is America’s best city for singles

In case you were wondering, it’s official – Happy Valley is the best place for singles

FindTheHome.com, “a residential real estate search engine with details on 105 million for sale, off-the-market, and foreclosed properties” according to the website, recently did a study on where single homeowners would thrive the best and our very own beloved State College took the cake.

However, one thing that Dun and Bradstreet doesn’t take into account is the amount of unconventional entertainment the town has to offer. Fraternity daylongs and huge philanthropy-driven events like THON draw in all sorts of age groups, prompting social interaction. If I had a dollar for every couple I know that met at an apartment party or in their THON committee, I’d have a lot of dollars (FTK, of course).

Photo by Madison Lippincott

FindTheHome used data from Dun and Bradstreet, a company that specializes in bettering business relationships through statistical data, to determine elements that singles find important. Fox13now.com consulted Dun and Bradstreet and created a “singles index” based on these elements and all cities with a minimum population of 25,000 were studied. They were able to break down the analytics into these classifications:

• Percentage of people who’ve never been married
• Restaurants per 10k people
• Movies theaters per 10k people
• Bars per 10k people
• Museums, zoos and botanical gardens per 10k people
• WalkIQ (which measures the walkability of an area)

The final 50 ranking states were calculated by taking the top ranked city from each state. These 50 cities were ranked against each other, leaving State College with the title of Best City for Singles. With a population of 42,066, State College excelled in Percentage of People Who’ve Never Been Married (81.3%) and WalkIQ (87 out of 100). The data for the remaining categories can be found below. Per 10,000 people in State College, there are:

• 31.7 restaurants
• 0.2 movie theaters
• 6.2 bars
• 0.5 museums

Dun and Bradstreet calculated all of these statistics together to give State College a singles index score of 88.7 out of 100.

If we’re being honest with each other, this singles index score is probably a result of the extreme imbalance between students and professionals in the area. And the fact that the social aspects of State College cater significantly more to youngins than oldies.

Photo courtesy of the Levels Nightclub YouTube Channel

Not only that, but there are a ton of social things for students and young professionals to do. Penn Staters are known for their taking to alcohol. With more than 20 bars within a square mile, it’s not hard for us to get from bar to bar and be exposed to as many singles as physically possible.

Photo courtesy of HerCampus.com

That perfect balance between the young age demographic (18-24) and the inflation of bars and other drinking venues verses other kinds of entertainment, such as movie theaters and museums, is what makes State College the best place for singles. The work to play ratio is just right.