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Posted on Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 8:40 a.m.

Ann Arbor tops Kiplinger's list of 10 best cities for singles

By Cindy Heflin

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Ann Arbor's mix of high income and large number of unmarried households helped it earn the top spot on Kiplinger's list of best cities for singles.

Ann Arbor has been ranked among the best places to raise a family, the best cities to retire and as the smartest city in the country. It’s also the best city in America for singles, Kiplinger says.

In coming up with the 10 best cities for singles, Kiplinger scrutinized cities for household income, cost of living and percentage of unmarried households. It also looked at a so-called date-night tab: the average cost of two movie tickets and a bottle of wine. Never mind that people don’t generally tote a bottle of wine to the movie theater.

Kiplinger cited Ann Arbor for its combination of “ultra-high wages, reasonable living costs and a well-educated dating pool.”

Bloomington, Ill., was No. 2. Iowa City, Iowa, was the only other Big Ten city to make the list, coming in at No. 10. Kiplinger also ranked the worst cities for singles. Yuma, Ariz., was at the top, or shall we say bottom, of that list.

Do you agree Ann Arbor is a great town for singles?

Comments

Frustrated in A2

Tue, Feb 14, 2012 : 6:24 p.m.

I'm a single male who lives in Ann Arbor and I'm looking for a good woman. As you can tell by my profile pic. I'm somewhat generic looking Lol !

walker101

Tue, Feb 14, 2012 : 12:01 p.m.

I guess being single, raising children and being able to afford child discounts at the movies theatre is great? Forgot to mention about retirees running over people and getting a free pass.

Erocypsi

Tue, Feb 14, 2012 : 10:53 a.m.

Kipplinger obviously did not base their findings on the comments from A2.com. If they did, they would have assumed that Ann Arbor is a vacuous hellhole with terrible government, schools, people and roads... I think Ann Arbor is fantastic. Growing up here was great, and after living in other communities, I can appreciate all of what Ann Arbor has to offer.

newsboy

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 10:15 p.m.

Kiplinger's should stick to making" bread batter" not finding great places to make" baby batter"!

David Paris

Tue, Feb 14, 2012 : 2:25 a.m.

Are you maybe confusing Kiplinger's with Keebler? You may want to google "Kiplinger's".

Wolf's Bane

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 8:04 p.m.

Great for kids and their liberal parents.

firstfolio

Tue, Feb 14, 2012 : 5:58 a.m.

You could read an article about gingerbread and yell "Liberal". Honestly.

annarborkid

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 7:55 p.m.

I'm going to assume this applies to heterosexual singles. Us gays are far and in between....

annarborkid

Tue, Feb 14, 2012 : 11:03 p.m.

@Halter- I'm young, in college and a super liberal democrat. There are still slim pickings! I can't wait to move back to Chicago!

Frustrated in A2

Tue, Feb 14, 2012 : 6:29 p.m.

I read an article about a month or two back that ranked A2 as one of the top 10 locations for gays. My gay friends who saw the article agreed.

Halter

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 8:57 p.m.

Not sure...there are a TON of gay guys here...but not if you are over 26...not if you ate not a liberal democrat...and not if you are looking to settle down IN Ann Arbir rather hn meeting someone and thn moving together to Chicago or New York. Also, if you are gay and not affiliated with he University, you might as well be living in Peoria.

buildergirl

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 7:51 p.m.

I'm going to go against the grain and agree that Ann Arbor has been a great place as a single person. There are many things to do here, many groups to join, and ways find people of similar interests.

ralph mcgraw

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 7:37 p.m.

You place a story about how wonderful Ann Arbor is for singles right under a story about single mothers trying to find affordable housing who are barely surviving? Did you ask them if Ann Arbor was great for singles?

trapper

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 6:55 p.m.

Being one up on Bloomington, IL is not encouraging. Unless you consider that Bloomington's right next door to Normal, the home of Steak and Shake.

CynicA2

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 6:41 p.m.

People who chose where they want to live based on some magazine survey deserve what they get... and that wouldn't necessarily be the best place to live. Ann Arbor has always been a good place for the relatively young and single to hustle the hell out of each other. When they get a little older and tire of the game, they can always move to a real city, and live a real life. A2 will always be the same, just a few more, or a few less people, depending on which way the survey windbags blow on a given day.

Lovaduck

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 7 p.m.

Wonderful and true comment. I loved it when I was YOUNG, but as you age you find that it's perpetually 21 years old!

ShawnS

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 6:22 p.m.

The criteria Kiplinger is using includes the assumption you're under 35 and looking for someone of similar age that earns a lot of money.

SMAIVE

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 6:20 p.m.

Single what? Dollar bills?

xmo

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 5:52 p.m.

"smartest city in the country?" I find this hard to believe, look who gets elected to Political Office in Ann Arbor! As far as being a single person's paradise, If you are Gay it is but for those guys who like women, good looking ones are in on the endangered species list!

A2newbie

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 11 p.m.

Same can be said for the good-looking men, they too are endangered species.

Stupid Hick

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 7:09 p.m.

One need look no further than the comments of the annarbor.com web site to see what a smart city it is.

Lovaduck

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 6:59 p.m.

Hell, it's only good for gays if you're under 35!

Marshall Applewhite

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 5:37 p.m.

If by "singles" they really mean, "Baby Boomer Hippies wearing fanny packs" then I absolutely agree.

firstfolio

Tue, Feb 14, 2012 : 6:06 a.m.

Why do you live in a town you so obviously disdain? For the sheer joy of being a curmudgeon? Honestly, its tiresome.

A2newbie

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 3:56 p.m.

That is the biggest bunch of bull I've heard in awhile. If you're single and a STUDENT well then yeah, it's a pretty big university. Otherwise, no way.

bunnyabbot

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 11:06 p.m.

not any good ones lately!

A2newbie

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 10:58 p.m.

I'm a non-student with a great job who works a lot too. I cannot stand, or understand, the elitist attitude here either. Bunnyabbot at least you've been on some dates! I'm pretty much prepared to go solo during my entire existence here.

Halter

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 8:51 p.m.

Hey bunnyabbott...I'm gay and I feel exactly the same way about the overly liberal guys and the elitist attitude...haven't gone on a date in years ( with any Ann Arbor guys ).

bunnyabbot

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 8:09 p.m.

that was my reaction! They would probably feel much different if they actually dated here (as I have, a non-student business owner who works a lot) of course finding a man that isn't a flaming liberal around here is quite hard too. Meeting men that have the whole A2 elitest attitude makes me want to vomit. I'd rather spend what precious non working time I have going on long walks or at home curled up on the couch with my dog.

B2Pilot

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 3:10 p.m.

Never heard of Kiplinger before - if it is Ann Arbor they are talking about why do they have a picture of the UofM campus and not you know another well known landmark like the water fountain in front of city hall

justwondering

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 2:51 p.m.

OMG. I clicked on the link to the article. They have one of the worst pictures of Ann Arbor I've seen. It's taken from a rooftop behind the Michigan Theater and most of the picture is nothing but rooftops! With all of the photo stock around, I can't imagine why they would have chosen that one. Wow.

justwondering

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 2:43 p.m.

Cheap wine and a bucket of popcorn at the movies. Wow.

hut hut

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 2:39 p.m.

It's not so bad for fat married guys either.

Brad

Mon, Feb 13, 2012 : 2:35 p.m.

Of course it is. They come here for the historic districts. It's what makes the city "cool".