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

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

i-3a59a493c18d0a3b17f1ee95d9bd3248-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

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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?

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.

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

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

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.

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. ;-)

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.

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