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jake-head-shot.jpgJake Young is a MD/PhD student at Mount Sinai School of Medicine focusing in Neuroscience. He is due to graduate in 2032. He received a BS and a MS in Biological Sciences from Stanford University -- where he spent most of his time drinking heavily and building vegetable catapults instead of learning information that would now be eminently useful. When he is not failing terrifically to perform his sworn duties, he enjoys watching bad movies, ethnic food, and running.

Pure Pedantry is a blog about science -- social sciences and otherwise -- as well as academic and scientific culture. No one can live on science alone, so I also like to dwell on pop culture, periodically explore the humanities, and indulge in other types of geeky goodness.

Jake is joined periodically by two wonderful guest bloggers: Kara Contreary and Kate Seip. See the About Page.

DISCLAIMERS: 1) Jake Young is not a licensed physician (yet). He is merely a medical student. The information published on this site is not intended for use in medical decision making. Please seek advice from a licensed, medical professional before making any health decisions. 2) The opinions expressed are my own or those of my co-bloggers. They do not represent the views of SEED magazine or the educational establishments we currently attend.

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Useful graphic: disparity in the number of single men and women by city

Category: Gender
Posted on: April 2, 2008 2:17 PM, by Jake Young

What an astonishingly useful graphic (click to enlarge, source):

singles_mapsingle.gif

Richard Florida (author of one of the most interesting books I have ever read) comments on the gender disparity in singles:

By far, the best places for single men are the large cities and metro areas of the East Coast and Midwest. The extreme is greater New York, where single women outnumber single men by more than 210,000. In the Philadelphia area and greater Washington, D.C., single women outnumber single men by 50,000. I met my wife outside Detroit, where the odds were greatly stacked in my favor - single women outnumber single men by some 20,000 there.

In fact, single women outnumber single men in many large cities around the world, even though men outearn women at all ages, according to Lena C. Edlund, a Columbia University economist. One reason young women in the prime marriage years - the 25-44 age range - flock to big cities is to compete for the most eligible men. And smart women who gravitate to vibrant cities are more likely to stay single - for longer, at least - because they rightly refuse to settle for someone who can't keep up with them intellectually or otherwise.

But women do have an advantage in the American West and Southwest. In greater Los Angeles, for example, there are 90,000 more single men than women. In Phoenix and the San Francisco Bay Area, single men outnumber single women by roughly 65,000. There are considerably more single men than women in San Diego, Dallas, and Seattle, too. Each of these regions has grown substantially over the past two or three decades, offering jobs in everything from high tech to construction and services. As numerous studies of migration show, men - especially those in regions with declining economies - are initially more likely to move long distances for economic opportunity, while women are more likely to stay closer to home and family.

Florida goes on to talk about how the presence of other singles tends to be a major factor in where young people choose to move. So if you are post-doc or residency shopping -- and you are still single -- consider this factor.

Also, apparently I am at ground zero for single women. I guess I can't attribute my poor performance to poor demography anymore. It really must be my caustic personality.

Hat-tip: Andrew Sullivan

Comments

I'm going to guess the graphic is much more boring looking once it is corrected for population size/density, etc, which is why Florida didn't present the data that way.
How does he handle the disparity due to prison populations? I seem to recall ~1% of the US population is in jail, ~90% of them men. Do prisoners count in the distribution?

Posted by: hibob | April 2, 2008 4:00 PM

sir,

the sex disparity in the western united states is obviously due the disgusting power of the patriarchy!

yours truly,
c. v. snicker

Posted by: chet snicker | April 2, 2008 4:27 PM

I beg to differ with Chet Snicker. The difference can be completely attributed to Horace Greeley, who said, "Go west, young man." Unfortunately, he didn't say anything to women.

Posted by: chezjake | April 2, 2008 5:01 PM

Well, I'm not sure those single men in the San Francisco area would be...um...available to me.

Posted by: Mary | April 2, 2008 6:57 PM

Hey! Why isn't DC a huge pink blob? And why, why did I leave the West Coast?

Posted by: bioephemera | April 2, 2008 7:30 PM

It's an excellent piece of work, but it needs to be corrected for gay/bi/lesbian/straight or everyone will still be clueless!

Posted by: Justin | April 3, 2008 4:50 AM

For the first time, I actually want to live in a 'Red' state! Ha!

Posted by: Stan | April 3, 2008 1:58 PM

Yeah, I would say..

"the San Francisco Bay Area, single men outnumber single women by roughly 65,000."

That 65,000 would be a low ball estimate of the number of single gay men in the SF Bay area.

Posted by: Trey | April 3, 2008 5:07 PM

Hey! Why isn't DC a huge pink blob?

Because all of those attractive women are lobbyists, congressional aides and/or women who often work for sex-industry firms on the side (see also Washingtonienne) and they are there for the money and the power, so they might as well not exist as far as regular guys are concerned.

And why, why did I leave the West Coast?

Danged if I know. That's a question only you can answer. ;-)

Posted by: Phoenix Woman | April 4, 2008 10:10 AM

Actually, looking at the map, DC is a huge pink/red blob, which it really shouldn't be for all the reasons I mentioned earlier. If you're not rich, cute, or powerful, you don't stand a chance with most of these women, unless they're lobbyists for progressive causes.

Posted by: Phoenix Woman | April 4, 2008 10:43 AM

Who has the real stats... I'm seriously looking for the best place to me single men 40-45! Would someone please help a caribbean sister, who love diversity and is ready to settle down, hook up!
zzgirl37robyn@yahoo.com
Bahamas

Posted by: Patrice | July 12, 2008 7:44 PM

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