Downgrade
I downgraded from #2 to #13 this summer with my move to Minneapolis. Boston was rated the #2 country in the country for singles, while Mpls is substantially down the list. I guess I can confirm this is true - no boyfriend in Mpls, I had one within 4 months of moving to Boston. But they are saying there's a chance for me in Mpls... Cross your fingers for me.
I'm surprised by Denver's #1 rating - I need to go there sometime and check it out. I've only ever been up in ski country, never actually in the city.
I like that they backed up their ratings with methodology. Good work Forbes.
UPDATE: You may or may not normally read the comments on my blog, but I encourage you to take a minute to read Kerry's comments on the methodology of this study, which I'd actually given props to.
Two points: a) I love that I have a friend who will be/is a epidemiologist. There's a chance you don't know that word so look it up. b) Her explaination of why their methodology sucks is written in laymens terms - nice work Kerry for dumbing it down for us. My takeaway is not to just give props to those offering methodology, but to challenge their methodology.
1 Comments:
As a budding epidemiologist, I was curious as to their methodology in determining the best cities for singles. And it suuuuuuucks. First of all, anyone over 15 that has never been married? So, divorcees and widowers are not single? I wonder how the addition of divorcees would change the results, I except substantially. Especially since a large proportion of marriages, especially first marriages, don't last. Further, data from the U.S. Census also indicates that the average age of first marriage is 27.1 for men and 25.3 for women (I am analyzing the effect of social trajectories on the proportion of alcohol use disorders in the U.S. in the second half of the 20th century for my masters thesis). Thus using only people who have not entered a first marriage is akin to deciding the best city for young people -- not singles.
Second of all, their 'cost of living alone' index is just ridiculous. The cost of a Pizza Hut pizza? Is the purchase of Pizza Hut pizza statisically correlated with being single or living alone? I don't think so. Further, the cost of any apartment? Shouldn't they restrict it to one bedroom apartments or something more indicative of living alone? And most singles I know live with roommates and would be splitting rent, which isn't accounted for in this "analysis".
And please don't get me started on their measure of "coolness". I would like to see the data they used to back that up.
In short, I believe that these methods will lead towards results that do not accurately reflect what cities are actually the 'best' for young people. Cause we all know that it is New York anyways. Pah-lease.
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