Where the Single Men Are
by Steve Watters on 09/05/2007 at 12:49 PM
Boundless Line is not as news-focused as other blogs, but we have on occasion dug into news stories with insights unavailable elsewhere. In support of the Boundless article Plenty of Men to Go Around Part 2, we dug into Census data and identified the cities and counties with the highest percentage of never married men.
Here are some highlights from those posts:
I just want to give a shout out to all the guys in Bozeman, Montana; Ames, Iowa; and Cullman, Alabama. ... Bozeman, Ames and Cullman were right around the top for areas with the highest ratio of never married men to never married women.
I started wondering this morning if the news that the great majority of U.S. towns and cities have a higher ratio of never-married young men than women would create a scarcity crisis among men. Are men who see they are outnumbered going to get motivated and start competing with the men around them for the pool of available women?
Today, the Wall Street Journal reported on another category from that survey -- counties with the highest percentage of never married men and women. By looking at numbers from entire counties and focusing on the percentage of never marrieds by gender, they came up with a list that was pretty different--and skewed toward counties with large college populations. Here's what they had:
Most Single Men
Clarke County, GA 55.6% never married men
District of Columbia, D.C. 50.4%
Suffolk County, MA 49.0%
McKinley County, NM 48.5%
Montgomery County, VA 48.1%
Most Single Women
District of Columbia, D.C. 47.5% never married women
Clarke County, GA 47.2%
Suffolk County, MA 45.1%
St. Louis City, MO 42.9%
Philadelphia County, PA 41.8%
Any readers from these areas? Thoughts on the greater percentage of never married men?
1. Becca said the following at 2:46 PM on Sep 5:
Clarke County, Georgia is the smallest county in Georgia and consists almost entirely of Athens which is a college town for University of Georgia. That would explain the high percentage of unmarried people.
2. kaj said the following at 3:27 PM on Sep 5:
Of course there may be a higher QUANTITY of unmarried men in these regions, but what about the QUALITY of men?
Just because these places have a higher male/female ratio does not guarantee a single woman would find a man who is a Christian (let alone one who belongs to the same denomination if any), one in her age range, or one who shares similar lifestyle choices (such as doesn't smoke or drink).
3. JMarie said the following at 4:47 PM on Sep 5:
Bozeman, MT is a college town, too. Maybe the ratio of never married men to women is higher because some schools have good programs in fields that typically draw men, such as Bozeman's Architecture program.
kaj - find a way to statistically measure the quality of the men, and I bet you'll make a fortune! ;)
4. Frank Hsueh said the following at 5:55 PM on Sep 5:
> kaj - find a way to statistically measure the quality of the men, and I bet you'll make a fortune! ;)
And I bet that in 30 seconds, guys will find a way to look good on the test (well, I would, heh heh).
5. Sarah said the following at 5:56 PM on Sep 5:
While we're talking about college towns, Ames, IA is one as well. I know many people who both attend school there and have graduated from there as well. From what I hear, while quantity may not be the issue, as kaj pointed out, quality certianly is. Of course, not to say all who attend aren't quality people, but there's a lot of partying that goes on there.
6. ptschett said the following at 6:33 PM on Sep 5:
Since I live in practically-dead-last North Dakota and expect to return to the family farm in 8th-worst SD in the next 5 years or so, my thought is that I could use some directions to the pool the OP refers to.
7. Elaine said the following at 6:35 PM on Sep 5:
to be truly honest, the quality issue is not one simply that is confined to region...the quality issue is also confined to the depths of our own character and the types of relationships we conduct with the world around us...
that transcends color, class, location, and plagues both men and women alike....
8. Eric M said the following at 10:05 PM on Sep 5:
Being a single, Christian in Bozeman, I can say that while the college helps (it has a large, decently well respected Engineering program too), there are also a large number of construction jobs in and around Bozeman right now, which also skews the population towards younger, never-married men.
9. Adrienne said the following at 12:50 PM on Sep 6:
I live in DC, and I'm not surprised at the raw numbers. However, the culture here is hardly oriented towards marriage. Dating barely even registers, even among Christians.
Most people in their 20s and early 30s are working 100 hours a week or working full-time and going to graduate school.
Quality and culture are far more important than just availability. Don't move to DC just to find a spouse.
10. Mike Theemling said the following at 4:07 PM on Sep 6:
Yes, we must look beyond just the raw numbers here.
For example, the largest ratio of never married men to women is probably in prisons. Does that mean women should start looking for men there?
Take for example Wash DC where I used to live. Yes, the ratio may have been in my favor but I imagine a lot of them were either in college (thus hard for me as a working guy to get in contact with them), working insane hours (not uncommon for the DC Metro area), or just weren't regular churchgoers (I tried a number of churches and didn't see the single ratio really in my favor there).
Still, there is some validity to the numbers. Mainly that the there are a lot of unmarried men out there and that it's important to do some research about how to access them.
11. Leah said the following at 6:35 PM on Sep 6:
Just a quick note- kaj, please don't limit yourself to men of the same denomination. My boyfriend and I come from the largest "denomination difference" I know of (me Presbyterian and him Assemblies of God [Pentecostal]) but we're all sorted.
12. Michael said the following at 11:58 PM on Sep 6:
The odd thing about Athens, GA is that the University of Georgia is something like 60-70% female to 30-40% male. The numbers are skewed the OPPOSITE way for the school as opposed to the county.
Thought it'd be worth pointing out, since people that don't go to school here wouldn't realize that.
13. Jacob said the following at 9:09 AM on Sep 7:
I'd disagree with you Leah. I think there is a lot of wisdom in finding a spouse of the same theological convictions as you. Ultimately, so long as they are in Christ, you are not sinning, so we're good there, but once you start having children, you and your spouse have to decide how they will be raised, in what church enviroment, etc. Presybterians and Pentecostals have widely different views on many things (gifts and baptism come to mind, let alone that Presybterians tend to be Calvinistic and Pentecostals are Arminian). I think there would be less conflict if you find a spouse who, on the whole, agrees with you doctrinally. Not that it has to be a perfect match.
14. Amanda said the following at 10:36 PM on Sep 7:
What I would like to know is this: where are the wsingle, christian men in Edmonton, Albeta, Canada?
15. Christine said the following at 4:10 PM on Sep 8:
In three months, I will be leaving the one place where I thought I would surely find a husband - seminary. It's a good thing that's not why I came. I'm leaving with my MA and not my MRS. Yes, there are far more single Christian men here, but it just didn't work out for me here. It simply has to be God's timing. Statistics in your favor don't necessarily guarantee marriage.
16. Kameron said the following at 11:35 AM on May 26:
My opinion is that increasing numbers of men are never-married because relatively few women are worth marrying.
The women I've dated (or tried to date) have been overwhelmingly entitled, unkind, withholding, capricious and not very pleasant to be with. These women have also overwhelmingly described themselves as Christian.
Most modern women, IMO, give a man very little incentive to pursue her. They tend to think the man owes her the world, but she owes him *nothing*.
If I sound bitter and jaded, it's because I'm bitter and jaded. For most of my life, I unquestioningly accepted the lie that women are *always* kinder, more just and gentle than men. After several of the so-called fair sex kicked my heart in -- several of them to "trade up" to a man who earned more -- I realized the deck was stacked against me, and that women as a group have no claim to moral superiority.
But I'm still dating, so I've not abandoned all hope. I just keep my guard up, and keep my back to the wall...
17. Jo said the following at 12:51 PM on May 26:
Kameron:
Honestly, it really bugs me when people of either gender make comments like, 'relatively few women/men are worth marrying'. I know girls that do it, funnily enough they're the same girls who consistently choose to date guys who treat them badly. Whose fault is that? In other words, you can't help the fact that unpleasant women exist; you can help the fact that you're going out with them.
There quite obviously are women worth pursuing, and I can't help thinking you need to go out and find them rather than settling for 'unkind and capricious' women and getting more and more bitter about the whole situation.