The Importance of Location in Relationship Strategy
September is back-to-school month, but it’s also the time of year when graduating students move into high gear looking for a job. They’re attending information sessions, writing cover letters and networking in a frenzy of effort designed to land them a paying gig come June. In the current economy, not all will succeed, and beggars can’t be choosers. Still, young people usually do exercise some geographical preference. Whether it’s staying in your college town, moving home or venturing somewhere completely new, you probably have some idea of where you’d like to land as a young professional.
You should know that some places are far better than others for dating, depending on your gender.
Meghan Casserly writes in Forbes:
“New research out of The University of Michigan School of Public Health says to increase the odds of getting hitched, start by taking a look at the gender dynamics of your area. When men outnumber women, females marry younger and the age gap between spouses grows, the study, published in the journal Evolutionary Psychology, says.
Why? Not shockingly, the paper exposes a “truth” about men, women, and relationships: Men are more concerned with the number of sexual relationships they might have whereas women are more concerned with commitment. But when there aren’t enough women to go around, men tend to treat ladies as a scarce commodity, and their oat-sowing behavior is shut down by a need to snatch one up and call her his own.
In other words, it’s simply supply and demand. Daniel Kruger, the paper’s author put it this way: “When women are in the minority, they have greater bargaining power” to get the kind of commitment they want.”
“When the OSR is male biased, available men outnumber available women and the greater degree of female choice will increase the male social status and resource potential necessary for securing female partners. A larger number of available males leads to an increase in female marital rates, and with greater bargaining power, women can secure mates with higher SES, higher fidelity, and a greater willingness to invest in offspring. Thus, men with lower SES may have an especially difficult time securing a marriage partner in male biased environments. However, a larger proportion of younger men are married in male biased populations compared to female biased populations, indicating a greater willingness for earlier commitment to long-term relationships.
In an environment where the OSR is female biased, males tend to pursue short-term mating as long as possible. The lower intrasexual competition associated with a relative shortage of male competitors allows them to decrease resource expenditures and avoid marital commitments. Males can continue short-term mating strategies much longer than in a less female biased population. The female biased OSR has been linked to increased divorce rates, family conflict, out-of-wedlock births, and violent crimes. In addition, women have greater difficulties in obtaining their first marriage.”
The study looked at the Operational Sex Ratio for the 50 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the U.S. using 2000 Census data.*
Operational Sex Ratio = (# Sexually active males/ 100 Sexually receptive females) x 100
A ratio of 100 indicates perfect equilibrium. The locations with the lowest ORSs favor males, whereas women have the advantage in cities where the ORS > 100.
The bottom line?
Single Male Strategy
- Go feast on the Southern Belles. The three most male deprived cities in the U.S. are in the deep South: Birmingham, Memphis and New Orleans. Other Southern delicacies may be found in Nashville, Richmond and Norfolk, VA and Raleigh-Durham. You’ll also hold your own and then some in Atlanta.
- Head for the bright lights of the Eastern big cities. DC, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston all favor guys. So do Hartford and Providence.
- If you’re committed to the Texas motherland, make it San Antonio. It’s the only Texas scene with more women than men.
- If the Midwest farmer’s daughters really make you feel allright, head for St. Louis, Milwaukee or Kansas City.
Single Female Strategy
It’s all happening west of the Mississippi.
- San Diego. Done. Beautiful, perfect climate, with an OSR of 115. If you can’t make it there, you can’t make it anywhere. With that many guys, you can even indulge in Tex Mex from time to time.
- TEXAS. Austin tops the list at 112, and has an awesome singles scene by all accounts, especially for the ladies. Dallas and Houston are right up there as well. If you’re willing to consider switching your citizenship to Texas, you’ll significantly increase your odds of finding a hot, manly guy.
- Get down with technology. Seattle and San Francisco are at 108. True, that San Francisco number includes some males who are not tuned in to sexually receptive females, but it also includes the Silicon Valley guys.
- Denver is awesome and people rave about the lifestyle. Just be on the lookout for ski bums.
- Cities with high OSRs that may actually not be the best place to find a man include LA (way too many hot women trying to get famous), Salt Lake City (unless you’re LDS) and Las Vegas (You’re not that kind of girl.) Alaska looks good, but if Levi Johnston is any indication, they breed them kinda dumb up there.
*Operational Sex Ratio for the 50 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas
| ORS | ORS | ||
| Birmingham, AL | 88 | Miami | 97 |
| Memphis | 88 | Atlanta | 98 |
| New Orleans | 89 | Chicago | 98 |
| Richmond, VA | 89 | Kansas City | 98 |
| NYC | 90 | Tampa | 99 |
| NY-NJ | 92 | Oklahoma City | 99 |
| Norfolk/Virginia Beach | 92 | Tulsa | 99 |
| Philadelphia | 92 | Charlotte, NC | 100 |
| Wash DC/Baltimore | 92 | Columbus | 100 |
| Cleveland | 93 | Tucson | 100 |
| Providence | 93 | Minneapolis | 102 |
| St. Louis | 93 | Dallas | 103 |
| San Antonio | 94 | Houston | 103 |
| Louisville, KY | 95 | LA | 104 |
| Boston | 96 | Orlando | 104 |
| Buffalo, NY | 96 | Portland | 107 |
| Hartford, CT | 96 | Alaska | 107 |
| Milwaukee | 96 | San Francisco | 108 |
| Nashville | 96 | Seattle | 108 |
| Pittsburgh | 96 | Denver-Boulder | 109 |
| Raleigh-Durham, NC | 96 | Phoenix | 111 |
| Cincinnati | 97 | Austin, TX | 112 |
| Detroit | 97 | Salt Lake City | 113 |
| Indianapolis | 97 | San Diego | 115 |
| Jacksonville, FL | 97 | Las Vegas | 116 |
| Sacramento | 97 | ||
| Rochester, NY | 97 |
If you want to maximize your value in today’s sexual marketplace, you need to make yourself scarce. Your long-term objectives, i.e. diamond ring vs. Nuva ring, merit serious consideration as you ponder where to make yourself at home.
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