Illinois Among Top 10 States For Living Single, So Daters Rejoice

With Valentine's Day around the corner, unattached Illinoisans must deal with constant reminders that the world — or at least the greeting card industry — wants them to find a partner. But living single in the Land of Lincoln isn't so bad, according to a study by a personal finance website.

Illinois is among the top 10 states for singles, coming in at No. 8 on the list compiled by WalletHub. The state also ranks eighth when in romance and fun and fifth in dating opportunities in the site's report.

California is the top state for singles, according to WalletHub's findings, followed by Florida, New York, Texas and Pennsylvania, respectively. Wisconsin was the only Midwest state with a better ranking than Illinois, listing at No. 6.

The unattached, however, might want to avoid the southern region of the country if they're looking for love, according to WalletHub's list. Arkansas rated the worst state for singles, followed by West Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi and Kentucky, respectively.

To determine its rankings, WalletHub compared all 50 states in three categories: dating economics, dating opportunities and romance and fun. States were evaluated across 27 metrics in those categories and graded on a 100-point scale. Finally, the weighted average for all metrics was used to calculate a state's overal score, and the website then ranked the states accordingly.

When it came to reaching a final score, dating opportunities — which included subcategories like gender balance and online dating options — was worth 50 points. Dating economics — which included financial metrics such as movie, hair and alcohol costs — and romance and fun — which included a state's number of attractions, as well as its restaurants, bars and movie theaters per capita — were worth 25 points each.

Illinois' final score was 58.88. For comparison, California received a final score of 66.75, and Arkansas scored 34.47.

Data to create the list was collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the FBI and other federal agencies and departments. Information from TransUnion, TripAdvisor, Gallup-Healthways and other private businesses also was used.

Go to WalletHub for its complete list of the best and worst states for singles.

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