Looking for a great place to rock around the Christmas tree this holiday season? Not looking to do it alone? Well, Forbes.com has unveiled its list of the 40 cities where you are statistically bound to find someone to meet you under the mistletoe.
Boston, home of Blast, was ranked lucky 7. Just barely beating New York City. To determine the rankings, Forbes looked at 40 of the largest cities in the US and ranked them according to “coolness, cost of living alone, culture, job growth, online dating, nightlife and number of singles”. Although some categories might leave you a little skeptical (“coolness” was determined by a poll that simply asked “Among the following U.S. cities, which one do you think is the coolest?”), the rankings are pretty interesting. Boston seems to fit rather fairly into the number 7 slot with a population of 4,058,570, with 29.09 percent of it being single.
Amongst the the criteria for ranking was online dating and Sam Yagan, owner of OkCupid.com and CrazyBlindDate.com which has a “chapter” in Boston, would have expected Boston to rank higher.
“It surprises me a little bit. I thought Boston would rank higher, just because there are so many young singles there and it’s such an easy place to be out and about,” Yagan said. Boston is one of the most popular cities on OKCupid.com for people between 18 and 34 he explained.
“The colleges absolutely have something to do with it. People who are in school are always dating – they are living in a dating bubble -there are lots of opportunities to get together, whether it’s parties or research around campus, and they have much more flexible schedule,” Yagan added, “On the other hand, the nightlife does tend to end a little early.”
That seems to be the main downside to Boston. Young adults are willing to stay out all night, but don’t really get that opportunity with Boston’s early bedtime – unlike New York, Las Vegas , and Miami, where the nightlife never ends. Boston’s saving grace in this category is its people. The night might end early, but the quality of the company might be a little higher than in other cities according to the polls.
“I’ve been single in both cities [Boston and New York] and I run a dating sight which also gives me insight,” Yagan said, “and I think that obviously NY nightlife goes much later, it’s usually 4 o’clock before most places think about closing, but Boston is more accessible and more casual. They’re not worried quite as much about what you wear, and in NY people are more focused on flaunting their wealth.”
Michael Winter, promoter for Saint one of Boston’s popular clubs, agrees. “As far as the people go, our people [Bostonians] tend to run clubs all over the country. Our people tend to be a lot more street smart and book smart. If you go to Vegas, a lot of the nightclubs there are run by Boston kids. I think we have a smarter breed … most of these kids have college degrees to boot. We’re a lot more real.”
Bostonians are apparently a lot more cultured, too, ranking second only to Los Angeles in the ranking’s categories. The Theatre District, array of musical groups and venues ranging from The Boston Symphony Orchestra to The Paradise have a lot to offer in the way of cultural diversity.
As Mark Twain once wrote, “In New York they ask ‘how much money does he have?’ In Philadelphia, they ask, ‘who were his parents?’ In Boston they ask, ‘how much does he know?'”. Boston is a thriving city of culture and colleges and a great place to meet other singles if you’re willing to spend a little quality time in a library or cafe rather than the discos.
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