http://www.forbes.com/2004/06/23/04singleland.html Austin 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 Houston - Lowest Cost of Living Singles 27 Nightlife 14 Cultural 24 Coolness 27 Job Growth 14 Cost of Living Alone 1 Houston brims with contradictions. A new town built by new money has one of the most rigid gentries in the country. A culture often stridently anti-intellectual is home to the finest university in the state. Southern gentility lives alongside intensely competitive business practices. Not surprisingly, the automobile reigns supreme in Oil City, U.S.A. The rare pedestrian draws quizzical looks and compassion from SUV jockeys. Residents, trapped by the city layout and ten-lane roads, are forced behind the wheel, even when they shouldn't be. While other cities are annoyed by lawyers seeking to make a buck from personal injuries, barristers in Houston advertise their services to drunk drivers (including a certain "DWI King"). A night out in Houston is a perfect primer to the state's can-do culture. Temperature exceeding 100 degrees? No worries. Even the most massive nightclub (like Red Door) will have arctic air conditioning cooling every nook. Houston has a varied nightlife, offering something for young hipsters (the Montrose area) and frat boys (Midtown) alike. The downtown area, with its endless corporate offices, draws a more upscale and older crowd. The sleek Whiskey Bar is about the closest you can get to New York pomp. One constant: the cheap fare. No city on our list is less expensive than Houston. Another constant: Beauty. Whether it's because of its outdoor culture, ethnic mixture, or high meat content diet, Texans may be the most attractive Americans. Unlike the Peter Pan mentality in nearby Austin, young Houstonians are marriage minded, and the city has a low ratio of other singles. So if you're young and unattached in Houston, you better get in your Suburban and head to the local watering hole before the pickings get slim. —Davide Dukcevich San Antonio - Least Cool Singles 27 Nightlife 35 Cultural 37 Coolness 36 Job Growth 7 Cost of Living Alone 5 San Antonio's mojo has taken some hard hits this year, what with the Walt Disney Co.'s Alamo getting massacred at the box office and the NBA's defending champion Spurs getting bounced out of the playoffs by the Lakers. But at least the town can celebrate a marginally improved showing in this year's rankings. The Alamo City moved up one place to No. 28, thanks mostly to its low cost of living and solid job-creation prospects. Its nightlife score was less impressive. Fortunately, local singles are not limited to the familiar clubs along the North St. Mary's Strip—they can venture out beyond Loop 1604 to such down-home hot spots as Floore's Country Store in Helotes, where Patsy Cline once played. A journey up I-35 brings you to New Braunfels, the home of Gruene Hall, once rated the best honky-tonk dancehall in the nation by Forbes FYI. Of course, San Antonio singles have to share Gruene Hall with Austin, which continues to outperform San Antonio in our annual ranking. On the other hand, Lyle Lovett's latest album includes a sprightly number called "San Antonio Girl," but not a single song about Austin. Take that, y'all. —Mark Lewis Dallas - At least it's not San Antonio! Singles 33 Nightlife 9 Cultural 9 Coolness 17 Job Growth 8 Cost of Living Alone 16 Folks in Dallas love to party. From the crazy raves of the 1980s to today's hip, chic bars, Dallas-ites make an art out of having a good time. You can visit the lovingly remodeled Uptown area (confusingly located near downtown), where young professionals are buying hip condos, and sample fine sushi or haute Italian. Clubbers love the Deep Ellum area—the name is actually a Southern pronunciation of the street the neighborhood is named for, Elm—but they are also hitting the Oak Lawn area in greater numbers, as they discover its great, reasonably priced restaurants. New art-house movie theaters, not to mention a brand-new sculpture museum, are drawing people who might normally stay on the Coasts. Some singles complain about a lack of fellow singletons—blame the comparatively low marrying age for that. Still, with a high ranking in job growth, thanks to the tech industry and an increasingly diverse economy (it's not just an oil town anymore), Dallas remains a good place to be solo. —Heidi Brown
I think it's interesting the selective way the cities are listed here in this thread. One would think that Dallas just barely edged San Antonio on the Forbes list (especially with the title). You wouldn't think it came in 12th on the overall rankings, which was four ahead of Houston. Not sure why Dallas would be a whole ten places "cooler" than Houston. The cities are essentially the same if you ask me. By the way, when did Austin get cheaper to live in than Dallas?
Austin used to be one of the cheapest urban areas in the state to live. Now it's one of the most expensive, except for things like the nightlife. I don't know how much the average house in a nice neighborhood in Dallas is, but here they start at around 150K and go up from there, unless you want a rediculous commute, rediculous for Austin, anyway. I think the ranking for Austin is dead on. It is the coolest city in the state and the single women are everywhere.
Well, their criteria was rent (rather than home purchase prices) and the average price of pizza and beer. I honestly couldn't tell you what the average home price is here. It varies wildly from suburb to suburb (and within suburbs. Just in my neighborhood, they can range from $125K to over $500K. And up in Allen, a friend of mine is selling his house. On his block, there are four other houses for sale. Though they are all aobut the same size, same style and same age, the asking prices range from $130K to $215K... I think the $215K guy is going dreaming, but my friend was noting that he's going to take a loss from when he bought the house a couple of years ago thanks to the weakness in the market). I always thought Austin was fairly high in the rent department, too. Maybe with all the high-end rental properties being built in recent years, the average price in the Metroplex has gone up... though we are still in one of those overbuilt rental funks with everyone offering megadeals to get people in (especially with low interest rates and every other house being for sale thanks to the relatively high unemployment rate). My own rent isn't rising as quickly as it used to, either. Between 1997 and 2000, my rent increased over 50%. Between 2000 and today, my rent has only increased 6.67%.
That's what I get for not looking at the criteria! I think rents here are worse than the housing costs for buying, but it's been a long time since I've really looked at it. I know some friends and relations have thought about moving here from Houston and renting, and were shocked at how much higher the rent was in Austin. I really don't know beans about Dallas and the area. When I make comparisions, it's usually with Houston, Austin and SA, which I know a little bit about. I'll stand by my "coolness" assertion regarding Austin, however.
how does austin get such a low ranking on the nightlife? seriously? screw the coolness...cheap drinks and TONS of hot UT and SWT, i mean texas state, chicks. maybe i have a simple idea of what nightlife is...i dunno. i guess there arent any bad ass dance clubs here if thats what they are talking about.
Nightlife: Nightlife is based on the number of restaurants, bars and nightclubs in each standard metropolitan area. Last year we tweaked our formula to give a higher weighting to restaurants, with less importance given to bars and nightclubs. This year we went back to our old formula. Data provided by AOL CityGuide. Apparently, it's a quantity thing rather than a quality thing.
ahh...thanks for the work...im lazy yeah i think austin lacks in the number of those things. hell even our bars and restaurants arent that chic, but the scenery at those places is if you catch my drift
I find it interesting this talk of Austin being expensive. I just got back from the NY-London-Caribbean tour and this place is CHEAP!!!
Most of Texas is cheap... relatively speaking. Why people in Texas b**** about the cost of living is beyond me. Other than of course they'd rather pay nothing to live.
Texans may be the most attractive Americans 'May be' Texas has the finest women in the country ---> period.
