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Forbes just published the results for their annual “Best Cities for Singles” list, and Columbus has slipped from 19th Place in 2007 down to 21st Place in 2008. We seem to do well in the categories of “Cost of Living Alone” and “Online Dating” while our biggest problem category is “Coolness” this year.
Aside from Minneapolis and Chicago, Columbus is one of the top-ranked spots in the midwest in this list though, beating out neighbors including Detroit, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Cleveland.
These lists should always be taken with a grain or two of salt, though. Columbus has fluctuated pretty wildly on this list in the past, clocking in at #28 in 2003 and all the way back up to #11 in 2006, without any real explanation as to why we’re on such a rollercoaster. Anyone have any theories?
Well coolness is obviously subjective. I find Southern cities entirely lacking of ‘cool’ factors, yet clearly this list puts Atlanta as number one. However, Columbus is missing the “natural” coolness, and I literally mean that–we don’t have any great pieces of nature to point to and say, “See! That’s our thing!” In Minneapolis they have Lake Calhoun, Chicago rests on Lake Michigan, Denver has the Rocky Mountains, New York has an ocean…Columbus really doesn’t have anything like that. I mean, sure, there is the Scioto River…but that just doesn’t cut it.
On top of that, we’re still just a small city. I love this city and we’re certainly a great city, but when you review the numbers we’re one of the smallest major metropolitan areas in America (#32). I think in order to be one of the top cities for singles, you need a huge number of people. Luckily that’s change with the growing rate of our area, but for now I think that can explain why we’re not in the top ten.
(And why the fluctuation? Because those city ranking sites are silly and always change their methods! One year they’ll include night life, the next year they’ll include “growth rate” or something…it’s really inconsistent)
(Oh and PS, speaking of inconsistencies, how do they reckon that Columbus has 4 million people?! The city itself has around 740,000 and the metro is around 1.4 million…how’d they come up with that number?)
The author of that piece in Forbes is using some seriously skewed stats. Columbus Metro at 4,051,019, has more people than Cleveland (1,728,459) and Cincinnati (1,539,660) Metros combined. Oddly though, it matches Atlanta exactly at 4,051,019. Looks like someone did a cut and paste job on a template, and forgot to double check their figures.
Walker, I think about 45% of this is legit, and the rest is just arbitrary. I can see things such as job market and single/never married population playing a role in actual rank. But “culture” is another matter entirely. It’s almost entirely subjective based upon one’s interests. Phoenix, for instance, earned a #12 vs Cleveland at #25. What were they basing this on? Number of shopping centers? A big name university? Cleveland has nothing on ASU, but if that’s what matters, then Buckeye Nation based right here in Columbus beats them both hands down, and I’m sure we beat everyone on the retail front as well. But seriously, there is nothing in Phoenix that even remotely holds a candle to the sheer depth of the arts in Cleveland, or even Columbus for that matter. Some of this actually works, and the rest is whatever the writers want it to be.
MarkedByTemerity, Columbus IS cool. WE know it is so. We just need to do a better job of projecting that outward into the world. For starters, I think we do have an excellent vehicle for this in Ohio State — the University itself, as well as Football, of course. But even though it is the flagship university of Ohio, I think more needs to be done to promote it as one of the key cornerstones of this city.
I also think we should promote what natural features we do have. We do have the lovely Scioto River. Why not make the most of it?
1. C’mon… while I love tracking the trends and lists, have you seen Mr. Forbes? Remember the guy who ran for Prez with Ken Blackwell as his top advisor?… his peeps at the conservative mag love stats for a reason, but stats and cool have nothing to do with one another.
2. Real cool comes from the authentic happenings at the grassroots level, the things hardest to track or even register for some viewers, and I’m happy to see more activity at this level than at any time in the 12 years I’ve lived here.
3… at least we’ve got #1 for seniors/retiring!
Bigger city=more opportunities, but your chances will always vary. Does that explain the fluctuation, other than the ranking being pretty bogus?
Might as well say last place. Seems like non-news.
Jeez, I can’t believe my first post here is on this topic… Walker, a possible reason for the big change in ranking between 2006 and 2007 is a change in geography. The methodology went from city to metro area. I don’t know what could explain the difference between 2003 and 2006.
I’m so tired of these “top” lists for cities. We all know it’s an advertising technique used by these publications to get us to read them. Please join me and boycott reading any further top lists for cities. The criteria and ones own opinion are way to subjective to have a top list.
thank you.
As much as they’re an advertisement for the publication, they’re also an advertisement for the cities. When a city does well on these types of lists it slowly embeds itself in the minds of the readers.
As much as they’re an advertisement for the publication, they’re also an advertisement for the cities. When a city does well on these types of lists it slowly embeds itself in the minds of the readers.
Great point, although when a city is ranked at the bottom of the list, it can be a negative advertisement for the city. These lists can be positive and negative for a city, so that’s why I think they should just be eliminated altogether. Just my thoughts. Thanks.
Forbes sure publishes a lot of these sort of lists. Someone on their staff must have a lot of fun playing with survey data and a lot of blank pages they need to fill.
First for retirees, twenty-first for singles. You win some, you kind of do okay at others…
Well, I guess this would make since a little…
I’m 24 and a good chunk of my high school and college friends are either about to get married or already married…
I guess I’ll just have to keep the faith!!