Fresno the No. 1 romantic city in America for singles, study says. What were they thinking?
Paris it’s not.
Or even New York City, for that matter.
But Fresno does have a certain amount of romantic charm, especially if you are single. That’s according to the website MyDatingAdvisor.com, which released a study on the best and worst cities for singles.
Among the findings: Fresno is the most romantic city in U.S. out of 150 metro areas surveyed. Also in the top five: New Haven, Connecticut; Springfield, Massachusetts; Hartford, Connecticut; and Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Sacramento, Stockton and Visalia also were each ranked in the top 10 for romance.
What makes Fresno so romantic?
The study looked at the things like the cost of a bottle of wine ($8 in Fresno) and a meal out for two ($46) and found that date nights in Fresno are rather affordable. Fresno also scored well for marriage rates, LGBTQ friendliness and level of sexual activity.
The city had a sexual activity score of 60.35, with 100 being the most sexually active, the study said.
That number is based on STDs per 100,000 people, active Ashley Madison users per 100,000 people, sexually active high schoolers per 100,000 people and median household income, for some reason.
Fresno County’s Department of Public Health did put out a health alert earlier this month due to an “alarming” amount of cases of sexually transmitted disseminated gonorrheal infections. So, the report could be on to something.
Now the ranking doesn’t mean that Fresno is the best place to be single, though it is in the top 20.
The city ranked No. 19, when looking at the additional criteria, which includes things like population diversity, share of single adults (53.3% in Fresno according to the report), educational attainment and well being. Fresno’s home prices and commute times are below the national average, plus the city has a good weather.
Fresno has a weather index score of 78.27 out of 100, according to the study.
To note: Even on a study from a dating reviews site, Fresno ranked worst for pollution levels.
This story was originally published May 17, 2021 at 9:35 AM.