The Romance Report

Houston singles stand a good chance of finding love during the pandemic

Use Texas' weather to help find love.

Photo by archigram/Getty

Even in the best of times, dating is a nightmare. But right now, during a highly contagious global pandemic? Forget about it.

That is, unless you live in Texas. According to a new study from Apartment List, residents of the Lone Star State are somehow making it work and finding love — or at least a date or two.

Metros were ranked by a weighted score based on the following: satisfaction with local dating opportunities, satisfaction with outdoors opportunities (but remember to still wear a mask!), and the percentage of singles in the city.

Texas dominates the list of best cities for dating during the pandemic, with three cities in the top 10: Austin at No. 1, San Antonio sixth, and Houston eighth.

What helped Austin win the crown? Our gorgeous Texas weather. Ninety percent of people who took Apartment List's annual renter satisfaction survey said they were happy with Austin's outdoor activities, more than any other city in the study.

Thirty-five percent of singles said they thought the local dating opportunities were pretty good, and slightly more than half of Austin's population is single to begin with.

Houston nearly matches Austin in terms of dating satisfaction (34.4 percent) and scores a hefty 70.5 percent in outdoor satisfaction. Singles versus spoken-for residents are an even 50-50 split.

San Antonio boasts even more singles (55 percent), and has a dating scene satisfaction rate of 29 percent. Alamo City is still pretty outdoorsy, with more than 63 percent of residents liking the outdoor recreation.

Coastal cities are quite satisfied with their pandemic dating lives, with Virginia Beach in third, Miami fourth, and San Diego seventh.

Who's probably riding out this pandemic totally alone? Anyone who lives in Jacksonville, Florida. It came in dead last with only 15 percent of satisfied singles, and only 36 percent who were satisfied with the outdoors. It joins Columbus, Ohio, and Hartford, Connecticut, in the bottom three.

reports

H-Town rising

Houston leaps back into top 50 'World's Best Cities' list for 2025

Photo by Adrian Newell on Unsplash

Houston made a big leap back into the top 50, ranking No. 40, after previously plummeting into No. 72 last year.

Lively Houston has regained its rightful place among the top 50 best cities in the world, according to a prestigious new report by Resonance Consultancy.

The Canada-based real estate and tourism marketing advisors ranked Houston the 40th best city worldwide for 2025 in its annual "World's Best Cities" list.

The report quantifies the relative qualities of livability, "lovability," and prosperity for the world's top 100 cities with metropolitan populations of 1 million or more. New to the 10th anniversary edition, Resonance partnered with global market researchers Ipsos to include perception-based data into the rankings, surveying over 22,000 people in 30 countries worldwide to determine "the most desirable places to visit, live or work."

Houston made a major rebound after plummeting to No. 73 in last year's report. In 2022, Houston ranked No. 42.

Resonance refers to its previous "World's Best Cities" reports and its 2024 "America's Best Cities" list – which ranked Houston in the top 10 – when explaining the Bayou City's successes. The report praised Houston's vast cultural diversity and placed a great focus on its economic prosperity, even going so far as to suggest Houston residents make more money "and can sock more away."

"...[W]here America’s fourth-largest city truly takes off is in its economic heft and wealth, ranking No. 9 globally for GDP per Capita and No. 14 for Fortune 500 companies in town," the report said. "All that rolls up into an overall Prosperity index ranking of No. 36, which is even more impressive given the No. 14-ranked Price-to Income Ratio [of the city]."

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin and Dallas also earned spots on the World's Best Cities list for 2025, but only one made a similar rebound from the previous year's rankings. Dallas moved up from No. 66 in last year's report to its current rank as No. 55. Meanwhile, Austin took its first tumble out of the 43rd spot (which it had occupied for two years straight) and now ranks No. 53.

London held onto its crown as the No. 1 best city in the world for 2025, followed by New York (No. 2), Paris (No. 3), Tokyo (No. 4), and Singapore (No. 5).