Want to Find Love? Facebook Reveals Best Cities to Meet Your Mate

Valentine’s Day is over and while everyone is done rushing to Jared at the last minute to pick up a chocolate diamond and a marshmallow rose (I got a marshmallow rose yesterday; I was not amused), for some people Valentine’s day can be a reminder that one may want to try to find love, or at least a person to pay for the pizza half the time. Finding love can be hard, though, especially if you don’t live in a city that fosters relationship formation (as Facebook puts it. I call it going steady because I am 15 and live in Bye Bye Birdie).

Facebook tracked relationship statuses across the country to find information about how many people in a given area are single, how many are in a relationship, and how relationship statuses have changed over time. Facebook points out that it’s done this completely anonymously, but who knows? Facebook knows when my anniversary is and I don’t, so I can’t complain too much.

Here’s what Facebook had to say about choosing the best city to find luv:

There are a few ways to look at the problem. For those who are single by choice, perhaps the most important feature is to look at the number of other single people, representing a culture catering to this lifestyle. The top five cities (among the top 50 population centers) by percentage of single people are:

1. Detroit, MI

2. Los Angeles, CA

3. New York, NY

4. Miami, FL

5. Memphis, TN

On the other hand, suppose you’re trying to find love. Here are the top five cities in terms of largest probability of relationship formation for a single person:

1. Colorado Springs, CO

2. El Paso, TX

3. Louisville, KY

4. Fort Worth, TX

5. San Antonio, TX

Before you pack your sunglasses and rent a convertible (if you were planning to ditch it all and move to LA), it’s important to recognize that the places with the largest amount of singles (who may or may not be ready to mingle; it’s a personal choice) may not be places where singles are pairing off and doing whatever it is that new couples do —trying hard not to fart has to be at the top of the list, right? In fact, what appears to be more important than the number of singles is, according to Facebook, the probability of relationship formation. It may be that living in an area with an abundance of singles may lower the probability of starting a relationship because people may not be as interested in being in a relationship, but in places where couples form more readily singles may feel more incentive to enter a relationship (so you can do important couples’ things with other couples. Like playing UNO together and ruining friendships forever).

Here’s a graph, if you’re so inclined:

It’s also important to note that Facebook’s calculations look at single males per single females and vice-versa, which misses the facts that not everyone is heterosexual and that many people join relationships that are not limited to just two people. And then there are those people who may not announce their relationship status to the world (WHO?) because they don’t need Facebook to make something official. Wrong: facebook makes everything official. If you text me on my birthday, it doesn’t count as long as you also posted on my wall. In the words of a young woman I overheard while dining alone at a Burger King last week: “I only want a dude who will put my name on his Facebook.” #Truth