The 10 Best Cities In The United States To Be Single For 2026

The best cities for singles in the US are Cambridge and Arlington for 2026 based on Saturday Night Science.

You single?

Looking to mingle?

Maybe both?

The best cities for singles in the United States have you covered if looking for love is on the agenda.

And just because we aren’t getting married as often as we used to doesn’t mean we aren’t still dating. According to the United States Census, Americans are waiting until later in life to settle down.

Perhaps social media and dating sites are making it harder to settle down because there’s too many choices.

Where are the best cities for single people in America? Here’s what we found using Saturday Night Science.

1

No. 1 best city for singles in America

Cambridge, MA

118,796 peopleSnackAbility 9/10
9/10
Cambridge, MA
Source: Flickr User EandJsFilmCrew | CC BY-SA 2.0

People in Cambridge may be a little older than in some of the other cities on this list, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t fun. In fact, studies say people prefer dating someone who is more experienced, anyways.

If you live in Cambridge and you have kids, you’re certainly a minority.

2

No. 2 best city for singles in America

Arlington, VA

236,254 peopleSnackAbility 7/10
7/10
Arlington, VA
Source: Wikipedia User Mariordo (Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Welcome to Arlington, where you should be meeting single people all the time. While the married percentage is higher than other cities, the average age isn’t too bad. Another bright side is the number of successful and educated people. That means that hot girl across the bar is a smarty pants, too!

3

No. 3 best city for singles in America

Ann Arbor, MI

122,036 peopleSnackAbility 8/10
8/10
Ann Arbor, MI
Source: Wikipedia User | GFDL

Welcome to Ann Arbor, where you can’t help but to bump into single people every single time you go out.

Sure, it helps that it’s a college town, but come on – look at the numbers. Only 1 in 3 households is married and only 1 in 5 homes has a kid.

6

No. 6 best city for singles in America

Boston, MA

666,442 peopleSnackAbility 8/10
8/10
Boston, MA
Source: Flickr User Bert Kaufmann | CC BY 2.0

Boston has a lot going for it; besides a vibrant singles scene, there’s a ton of places to meet up. We’d be shocked if everyone wasn’t swiping right. Maybe one reason there’s so many people who aren’t married in Boston – everyone has an attitude. They can’t put up with one another for too long.

7

No. 7 best city for singles in America

Seattle, WA

754,195 peopleSnackAbility 8/10
8/10
Seattle, WA
Source: Public domain

With a city this big, you’d expect to find a ton of people out and about late at night. And you’d be right; not only are there a ton of places for singles to meet, there are a ton of single people filling them up.

If you’re married with kids in Seattle, you’re BORING.

9

No. 9 best city for singles in America

Berkeley, CA

120,257 peopleSnackAbility 8/10
8/10
Berkeley, CA
Source: Wikipedia User User:Introvert | CC BY-SA 2.5

Of course, most of these cities are going to be college towns (or near college towns). So if you’re a 25-year-old looking to find someone new, you’d love a place like Berkeley. If you’re a 60-year-old looking for love, you’d better hope that there are some single professors around. Or, you’d better have some money.

10

No. 10 best city for singles in America

Fort Collins, CO

170,229 peopleSnackAbility 7/10
7/10
Fort Collins, CO
Source: Wikipedia User Citycommunications at English Wikipedia | CC BY 3.0

The receipts

Compare the top ten

Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is the United States’s statewide median.

City Population vs US
1 Cambridge 118,796
2 Arlington 236,254
3 Ann Arbor 122,036
4 Boulder 106,433
5 Providence 191,767
6 Boston 666,442
7 Seattle 754,195
8 Madison 278,001
9 Berkeley 120,257
10 Fort Collins 170,229
City Median age vs US
1 Cambridge 30
2 Arlington 36
3 Ann Arbor 28
4 Boulder 29
5 Providence 33
6 Boston 33
7 Seattle 36
8 Madison 32
9 Berkeley 33
10 Fort Collins 31
City % Married vs US
1 Cambridge 0
2 Arlington 0
3 Ann Arbor 0
4 Boulder 0
5 Providence 0
6 Boston 0
7 Seattle 0
8 Madison 0
9 Berkeley 0
10 Fort Collins 0
City % Households w/ Kids vs US
1 Cambridge 17.7%
2 Arlington 20.4%
3 Ann Arbor 17.1%
4 Boulder 17.0%
5 Providence 28.6%
6 Boston 19.8%
7 Seattle 17.4%
8 Madison 19.6%
9 Berkeley 18.9%
10 Fort Collins 22.5%

On the map

Where the best cities for singles in America are

Saturday Night Science

Methodology: How we crunched the numbers on the best cities for singles in the US for 2026

We used Saturday Night Science in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Taking the 2020-2024 American Community Survey Census data, we looked at the 100 biggest cities in the United States. We paid particular attention to:

We then gave each city a Singles Score.

  • Population density
  • % of population that’s male vs. female (closer to a 50-50 ratio is better)
  • % of households with kids
  • Median age
  • Number of unmarried people in each city

The higher the score, the better the city is for singles to find one another.

We updated this article for 2026. This is our eleventh time ranking the best cities for singles to mingle in America.

The full list

Best Cities For Singles In America For 2026

Click any column to sort. Search by city name.

RankCityPopulationMedian Age
1Cambridge, MA118,79630.0
2Arlington, VA236,25436.0
3Ann Arbor, MI122,03628.0
4Boulder, CO106,43329.0
5Providence, RI191,76733.0
6Boston, MA666,44233.0
7Seattle, WA754,19536.0
8Madison, WI278,00132.0
9Berkeley, CA120,25733.0
10Fort Collins, CO170,22931.0
11Minneapolis, MN427,24633.0
12Denver, CO718,87735.0
13Spring Valley, NV219,18740.0
14Norfolk, VA233,59633.0
15Los Angeles, CA3,857,26337.0
16Tempe, AZ188,06530.0
17Washington, DC681,29435.0
18Sunrise Manor, NV200,21834.0
19Dallas, TX1,307,93033.0
20Miami, FL459,74539.0
21New Haven, CT134,34932.0
22Elizabeth, NJ137,30236.0
23Atlanta, GA505,26834.0
24Portland, OR641,16539.0
25Tampa, FL401,61836.0
26Newark, NJ310,17835.0
27Alexandria, VA156,97638.0
28Worcester, MA207,05534.0
29Albany, NY100,49232.0
30Paterson, NJ158,73533.0
31Syracuse, NY146,38432.0
32Oakland, CA439,41838.0
33Lowell, MA118,36836.0
34St. Paul, MN307,28434.0
35Pittsburgh, PA304,75934.0
36Tucson, AZ547,07335.0
37Salinas, CA161,76132.0
38Fargo, ND131,62732.0
39San Francisco, CA830,23540.0
40Paradise, NV185,91339.0
40Lakewood, CO156,58338.0
42Las Vegas, NV660,40039.0
43Chicago, IL2,711,22636.0
43Eugene, OR179,59135.0
45Irving, TX256,49233.0
46Santa Maria, CA110,46229.0
47Gainesville, FL145,70226.0
48Quincy, MA102,11439.0
49Hartford, CT121,12733.0
50Bridgeport, CT149,15337.0
51Allentown, PA125,97633.0
52San Diego, CA1,389,52636.0
53Colorado Springs, CO487,88736.0
54Renton, WA105,31736.0
54Phoenix, AZ1,642,32335.0
56Rochester, NY208,77234.0
57Manchester, NH115,64338.0
58Clearwater, FL117,24747.0
59Milwaukee, WI566,97332.0
60Columbia, SC139,64329.0
61Urban Honolulu, HI345,48243.0
62Mesa, AZ511,76437.0
63Dayton, OH136,57934.0
64Enterprise, NV240,46437.0
65Santa Clara, CA130,25635.0
66Houston, TX2,328,25334.0
67Pasadena, CA136,96940.0
67Garden Grove, CA170,96440.0
69College Station, TX124,57023.0
70Pomona, CA147,94336.0
71San Mateo, CA103,10538.0
72Lynn, MA101,70936.0
73Columbus, OH914,80233.0
74Long Beach, CA455,54837.0
75East Los Angeles, CA111,64735.0
76St. Louis, MO288,51237.0
77San Bernardino, CA222,72432.0
78Baltimore, MD573,24336.0
79Cincinnati, OH311,22433.0
80Spokane, WA230,29337.0
81Bellevue, WA151,84738.0
81Clarksville, TN176,45631.0
83Westminster, CO115,48437.0
84Cleveland, OH366,09736.0
85Lansing, MI113,02334.0
86Grand Rapids, MI198,53532.0
86Vancouver, WA195,30038.0
88West Palm Beach, FL122,29041.0
89Reno, NV273,21237.0
90Las Cruces, NM114,19733.0
91Sunnyvale, CA154,23635.0
92Chandler, AZ280,13638.0
93Cape Coral, FL215,53649.0
94Fresno, CA545,97033.0
95North Charleston, SC119,91335.0
95Chico, CA102,18831.0
97New York, NY8,483,84438.0
98Oxnard, CA200,92834.0
99Glendale, AZ252,83335.0
100Philadelphia, PA1,579,70635.0

Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. The 330 largest US cities.

Summary

There You Have It – The Best Cities For Singles In America

If you’re looking for the best cities in America where you can find single people – and likely someone to date – this is an accurate list. If you live in one of these places, get out there and find someone to complete your night.

The best cities for singles in the United States are Cambridge, MA, Arlington, VA, Ann Arbor, MI, Boulder, CO, Providence, RI, Boston, MA, Seattle, WA, Madison, WI, Berkeley, CA, and Fort Collins, CO.

Chris Kolmar
About the author

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

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