This is the best city in America for single women

Sex and relationships

By Alex Mitchell

March 3, 2023 | 18:00

BIVALO — The city of wings and momentum.

Buffalo is one of America’s best cities for singles, according to new research from the Thriving Center of Psychology.

According to the survey based on US Census data, the western New York metropolis has the third highest number of people per capita compared to other major cities. But it also boasts the highest number of single women per capita and the ninth highest number of single men in any city.

The buffalo boys are especially happy about the favorable conditions.

“When it comes to casual dating, it doesn’t take much effort,” Trevor Kearns, a 29-year-old software engineer, told The Post.

Connecting with single ladies doesn’t require you to step aside, he noted. You can “just live your life as you used to” and meet people.

But some guys take the effort too far. Nassema Dawkins, a 24-year-old administrative assistant, said she went on a triple date when one of the men wasn’t dressed to impress her.

“[The ladies] I dressed up for a triple date, high heels, make-up, everything, she said.

“But we didn’t go out because one of the men decided to wear sweatpants and they wouldn’t let us into the club we went to.”

The new data aligns with last year’s in-depth study by LendingTree, which named Buffalo the largest U.S. metropolitan area as the “friendliest for singles” and found that 55.4% of residents are unmarried.

The affordability of the city is the main reason why it is good for bachelors and bachelorettes. According to RentCafe, an apartment search website, the cost of living is 39% below the New York state average and 5% below the national average.

Thanks to favorable economics, residents do not have to get married.

“You don’t need someone to share the rent with you,” said Steve Carr, 32, who works for an electrical company and currently pays $825 for a two-bedroom apartment. “I’ve been living alone for seven years and I couldn’t imagine living with a couple.”

Thomas Crane, 24, a bartender at Jack Rabbit Bar, a popular singles spot in Buffalo’s trendy Elmwood Village neighborhood, agrees.

“There’s not a lot of pressure to settle down,” he told The Post. “A lot of young singles are just focused on themselves.”

In February 2023, the average rent for a bedroom in Buffalo was $1,000, compared to $3,350 in New York and $2,365 in Los Angeles, according to Zumper real estate.

Nights on the town won’t break the bank either, which is a big plus for singles.

“It’s the lifestyle here, a very easygoing lifestyle,” Therese Forton, 60, a professional Buffalo matchmaker, told The Post. “Whether you’re interested in the arts and theater or our sports teams, it’s all affordable.”

Singles culture tends to be centered around meeting people in bars, not online, in part because the city is so small — population 277,000 — that dating apps don’t offer as much and anonymity as in larger cities.

Residents often see familiar faces that they — or close friends — have been with, gone to school with, or whose families attend Bills games together.

“You don’t want to ruin years of reputation in five minutes,” said 36-year-old musician Aaron Anson. “Because everyone will know and find out very quickly, and there is no going back.”

Buffalo’s straight guys are questioning how good the city’s singles scene is for them.

“There are a lot of hot women here. There are lots of girls here,” Justine Powers, 30, who does marketing for a craft beer company, told The Post.

“I feel like I’m in a pool of attractive women [compared to] there are a lot of guys here, it’s very lopsided,” he added.

But some people like hometowns.

“I need to love a Buffalo boy with similar values ​​… he loves his mom, he loves the Bills,” said Michaela Feeney, 24, a nanny.

He added that looking like quarterback Josh Allen is huge bonus points.

Others are not so charmed by the locals. Emily Sansone said she crossed the border into nearby Toronto — Canada’s largest city with a population of 6 million — to meet better men.

“[Men here] he made efforts for the wrong reasons,” Sansone, a 24-year-old veterinarian, told The Post. “They just want to have sex.”

Kearns doesn’t deny that men in the neighborhood can be like that, but she says she tries to be direct about what she’s looking for.

“A lot of people hate me for that, [but] I promote the word ‘expectations,’” ​​he said.

“I tried to be clear in the beginning and say, ‘Hey, I want to date you. Let’s try this. They usually think it’s their audition to get married or something.

Such misconstrued messages can be as common in Buffalo as a heartbreaking playoff run.

“We’re called the city of good neighbors,” Dawkins said, “but it’s really a city of bad daters and worse communicators.