The best city for singles is Ann Arbor, Michigan. In 2012 Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine ranked cities on such things as how many households were single versus married, whether those households were affluent enough to date and what a date might cost. Ann Arbor was #1 because the University of Michigan is located there and more than 50% of the population was single. Also, the average household income was $59,065 and the cost of a date was $24. Bloomington, Illinois was second followed by Santa Cruz, California; Baltimore, Maryland; and Los Angeles, California. It seems these are “single-minded” cities.
The worst city for renters is New York City. That’s according to the 2012 rent-to-income ratios in 40 major U.S. cities, which were determined by John Burns Real Estate Consulting. High rents are supposedly due to a combination of reasonably high household income, job growth, home ownership cost and the trend toward density. In NYC the rent-to-income ratio was 52%. Los Angeles was second with 36% followed by San Francisco with 33%, Miami with 29% and Detroit with 28%. Rent is the past tense of the verb rend – meaning to tear apart – which seems appropriate for these rent-to-income ratios.
Hawaiians have the best sense of overall well-being. In 2011 Gallup conducted phone surveys from a random sample of 1,000 people a day for 350 days. Those surveyed were asked questions about physical health; lifestyle behaviors; emotional health; work environment; basic access to health care and food; and life evaluation. The residents of North Dakota had the second best sense of overall well-being followed by the residents of Minnesota, Alaska and Utah. West Virginia was the state ranked last in well-being. West Virginia is the “Mountain State” and the results of this survey are “one more mountain to climb”.
A very unscientific CNNGO report in 2012 attributed the 7 deadly sins to U.S. cities. Gluttony/Chicago: home of the world’s biggest food festival. Sloth/Indianapolis: nicknamed “Naptown”. Pride/Miami: according to a Living Social survey, its citizens rated themselves a 7 or above in attractiveness. Greed/Las Vegas: $10 billion of the nation’s $60 billion of gaming money is spent in Nevada. Lust/Portland, Oregon: rated the most promiscuous city by OkCupid. Envy/Philadelphia: because it’s not New York City; Boston; or Washington, D.C. Wrath/Detroit: rated the most sleep-deprived city by the CDC. However, I’m sure these cities think there’s an 8th deadly sin – “the sin of omission”.
Comments