AUSTIN (KXAN) — Archita Tekriwal and Dhruv Verma sip their drinks across from one another at Jo’s Coffee. Despite the rush of tourists and locals alike on South Congress Avenue, they are calm and content as they enjoy the moment together. They have come so far since meeting on Bumble a year and a half ago.
Their story of finding love taps into a number of the reasons Austin’s dynamic dating scene has been touted as one of the country’s best.
Austin ranks No. 1 in the U.S. for dating in a list published by Sperling’s Best Places, a data analysis website with over 2 million monthly visits. The ranking included 80 metro areas in America including Seattle, New York City, New Orleans and Los Angeles.
Austin outranked the second highest-scored Texas city, Fort Worth, by 20 places.
Here’s why.
Young, single people
If an entire Netflix reality show about people in their 20s in Austin isn’t enough to prove it’s a “young person’s” city, numbers tend to back it up. Only about 9% of the Austin population is over 65 years old according to the data from the U.S. Census Bureau. This is significantly less than the national average of 16% and the Texas average of 12.5%, as reported by the 2020 American Community Survey.
The Sperling’s Best Places’ data analysis approximated 18-24-year-olds make up 13.4% of the Austin population. Of this 13.4%, the analysis estimated more than four-fifths to be single, meaning there are approximately 110,226 single 18-to-24-years-olds in the Austin dating pool. This is almost twice the entire population of San Marcos.
Austin’s large amount of young and single people directly contributed to its high ranking. Austin’s a heavily-populated college town where it’s easy for young singles to get together, the rating site said.
Out of all the cities featured on the list, Austin has the highest percentage of 18-to-24-year-olds.