Proving once again that Forbes should stick to finance, this year's listing of top towns for singles benefits from an "improved methodology." Leading off with Providence, RI as the #14 best city for singles in the US and 12th in nightlife cast an amateur-statistician pall over the remainder of the findings. I live in downtown Boston and let me tell you, Providence is not where one goes for love. Strip clubs maybe.

The aannual listing of America's Best Cities For Singles ranks the 40 largest metropolitan areas in seven different categories: nightlife, culture, job growth, number of other singles, cost of living alone, coolness and public opinion.

I have a problem that they used AOL Digital Citites to count the number of hotspots in each city, nothing about the quality of the entertainment. And what's with using the number of people on Match.com for each major metro as a datapoint? Ever hear of census data? Hmm, Match is the personals site for Forbes, no wonder.

2002
1. Boston
2. Austin
3. Washington-Baltimore
4. Raleigh-Durham
5. Denver-Boulder
6. San Francisco-Oakland
7. San Diego
8. Houston
9. Minneapolis-St. Paul
10. Atlanta

2003
1. Austin
2. Denver-Boulder
3. Boston
4. Washington-Baltimore
5. Atlanta
6. San Francisco-Oakland
7. Los Angeles
8. New York
9. Raleigh-Durham
10. Dallas-Fort Worth

2004
1. Denver-Boulder
2. Washington-Baltimore
3. Austin
4. Atlanta
5. Boston
6. Los Angeles
7. Phoenix
8. New York
9. San Francisco
10. Miami

2005
1.Denver-Boulder
2. Boston
3. San Francisco
4. Raleigh-Durham
5. Washington-Baltimore
6. Atlanta
7. Los Angeles
8. New York
9. Chicago
10. Seattle

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