Forbes Best Cities for Singles (Austin #3 this year)
Austin
rank
3 ( from 2003 : 1 )
Singles 1
Nightlife 24
Cultural 32
Coolness 1
Job Growth 2
Cost of Living Alone 9

We were swamped with boatloads of angry e-mails from Austin after publishing our best cities for singles ranking last year. No, the capital of Texas did not finish at the bottom of our list. It actually won. But you couldn't tell from the venom that readers served up about their hometown. The job market was lousy, we were told, prices were rising, and even the much-vaunted music scene had grown stale. In a state brimming with pride, hardly a single piece of mail supported our findings. The antipathy re-appeared in our reader polls, which we posted this spring. Only 43% of our readers said that Austin was a good place to be single; 47% said it was lousy and 10% gave it a mere shrug. The backlash was enough to knock Austin into third place this year, but not further. After all, the rest of the numbers are all in Austin's favor, including the highest singles ratio in the land, a plethora of artists, musicians and writers, a decent nightlife, and, yes, superior job growth and low cost of living. So take that, Austin—your city rocks! —Davide Dukcevich