Numbers can tell all kinds of stories. CityLab has one: Atlanta has about 80,000 more single women (ages 18-64) than single men — one of the largest such gaps in the country, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data.
"Back in February 2007, National Geographic published its infamous 'Singles Map.' ... (A)n update seems in order," Richard Florida wrote, introing maps of the "surplus" of men or women ages 18-64, as well as in smaller age cohorts (18-24, 25-34, 35-44 and 45-64).
"As in 2007, the odds still favor single men on the East Coast, single women on the West," Florida wrote.
His work, with the Martin Prosperity Institute, drew on the Census Bureau's 2013 American Community Survey.
More discoveries:
• "The metros with the largest ratios of single women to men are all on the smaller side," including Greenville, N.C., and Florence, S.C.
• Atlanta has 1,100 single women for every 1,000 single men. Or: 1.1 single women per single men. (Or: An additional one-tenth of a single woman, if you measured people like fractions.)
• But: "younger single men outnumber single women across the board," Florida wrote. Although he said that Athens was one of the "few metros where odds favor single men."
• At the same time, Hinesville, southeast of Savannah, has one of the largest ratios of younger single men to younger single women: 1,747 single men/1,000 women, ages 18-24.
• These numbers begin to flip as everyone gets older: Single women outnumber single men after the age of 34. "And there are at least 50,000 more single women aged 45 to 64 than men in Atlanta," Florida wrote.
This is pure demography; and as Florida notes, it doesn't control for LGBT relationships or even break down this data even further by education or ethnicity.
But if you're single and a woman in Atlanta, you aren't alone. Alternately, here's why you should focus on friendship on Valentine's Day.
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