• U.S.

Here’s Where You Should Live to Find Your Perfect Match

2 minute read

Looking for love in all the wrong places?

Enter your dating preferences and find out which cities have the highest percentage of people who match them. The results are based on over 15 million individual records from the U.S. Census. You can start with your current city to see how the local single population measures up. Or let fate decide. Your responses never leave your computer and are not monitored.

 

Of course, we all are looking for things in potential mate that go beyond the sort of demographic information that the Census collections. There’s no field for religion, for example, much less for sense of humor or affinity for dogs.

Since the Census Bureau’s annual survey does not ask about sexual preferences, this interactive groups all single people together. Given that the quiz primarily deals with the percent of the single population that matches your specifications, not the raw number, the premise is equally relevant for those seeking same-sex and opposite-sex partners. (This assumes that the gay and straight populations have roughly the same distribution of income and education.)

Like all surveys, things can get wonky when you’re looking for a very specific and uncommon combination of traits. Then again, if you are certain that your perfect mate is a divorced 18-21 year old with a professional degree, your problems dating probably extend beyond statistical aberrations in Census data.

Methodology

The raw data comes from the American Community Survey, the Census Bureau’s annual survey of 1 percent of the population, via the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. To gather a sufficient sample for a granular analysis of the data, this project combines and averages the surveys from 2009-2013.

Source

Steven Ruggles, J. Trent Alexander, Katie Genadek, Ronald Goeken, Matthew B. Schroeder, and Matthew Sobek. Integrated Public Use Microdata Series: Version 5.0 [Machine-readable database]. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2010.

See the 10 Healthiest Cities to Live in America

Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii Best Place for Lifelong Health The heavenly climate helps, but the key to well-being here also includes enviable health care and a rich cultural tradition of looking out for one another.Colin Anderson—Blend Images/Corbis
San Francisco, California
San Francisco Bay Area, Calif. Best Place for Eating Right. The "farm to table" movement began here. The region's bounty of produce and year-round growing season make eating healthy—and local—a natural.Getty Images
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington, Vt. Best Place for Raising Healthy Kids This New England city offers great schools, excellent pediatric care, loads of culture and limitless options for healthy outdoor fun all year long.Matt Hogan/www.mphoganphoto.com
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley, Calif. Best Place for Workplace Wellness With treadmill desks, meetings on bikes, time off for creativity, and gobs of organic food, tech titans are reinventing how to stay healthy on the job.Jim Wilson—The New York Times/Redux
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn. Best Place for Aging Well Yes, it can be cold. But with a plethora of stimulating activities and a robust web of support, the Twin Cities prove that growing old doesn't mean slowing down.Getty Images
Boulder, Colorado
Denver and Boulder, Colo. Best Place for Keeping Fit The urge to get outside and get moving is contagious in these Rocky Mountain cities, where physical challenge is built into the landscape.Celin Serbo—Aurora Photos/Corbis
Plano, Texas
Plano, Texas Best Place for Staying Safe Once a rural outpost, this booming, diverse city has kept its small-town vibe, thanks in part to a police force and community that knows how to work together.Misty Keasler—Redux for TIME
Portland, Oregon
Portland, Ore. Best Place for a Healthy Environment Small, walkable neighborhoods, 300 miles of bike paths, and urban policies that foster active living and sustainability make for one clean, green city.Getty Images
Boston, Massachusetts
Boston, Mass. Best Place for Health Care This history-rich city is home to some of the nation's most advanced medical institutions and policies that help ensure that quality care is available to all.K.C. Cohen—Courtesy of Boston Children's Hospital
Provo, Utah
Provo and Orem, Utah Best Place for Spiritual Well-Being A stunning Rocky Mountain backdrop and a tight-knit population that lives its faith contribute not only to this region's serenity but also to lower rates of disease.Getty Images

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Write to Chris Wilson at chris.wilson@time.com