Boston country's best city for singles

As someone who lived in Boston for nearly 10 years (a run that closed at the beginning of 2005), I'm happy to report that it is hands down the best city in the United States if you're single.

Don't trust me? Fine. Money magazine says the same thing.

In its 2008 rankings of U.S. cities with the most singles, by percentage, the top five includes three communities that are essentially greater Boston. Cambridge, Mass., ranks as the country's second best city for singles, Somerville next door ranks as the third and Boston proper is at No. 5.

In all three singles make up more than half the population.

Obviously Boston is helped by the sheer number of colleges and universities present, pouring all manners of late teens and twenty-somethings into the city for nine months every year (they'll be starting to arrive in, oh, a hair under three weeks from now).

The country's best city for singles, according to Money? Brace yourselves: Hoboken, N.J. There are many young Manhattanites that have taken the plunge and moved there, and others -- my brother, included -- who just can't make such a leap yet.

Here's Money's Top 20 cities for the unattached, based on the percentage of each city's total population that are single.

1. Hoboken, N.J. (57.7 percent)
2. Cambridge, Mass. (52.4 percent)
3. Somerville, Mass. (51.4 percent)
4. Berkeley, Calif. (51.2 percent)
5. Boston, Mass. (50.3 percent)
6. Burlington, Vermont (50 percent)
7. Washington, D.C. (48.5 percent)
8. Boulder, Colo. (48.2 percent)
9. North Druid Hills, Georgia (47.6 percent)
10. Hermosa Beach, Calif. (47.2 percent)
11. Minneapolis, Minn. (46.3 percent)
12. Hempstead, N.Y. (45.8 percent)
13. Atlanta, Georgia (45.7 percent)
14. Syracuse, N.Y. (45.6 percent)
15. Albany, N.Y. (45.4 percent)
16. Hartford, Conn. (45.3 percent)
17. Santa Cruz, Calf. (45.3 percent)
18. New Haven, Conn. (44.9 percent)
19. San Francisco, Calif. (44.7 percent)
20. Newark, N.J. (44.1 percent)

East Orange, N.J., St. Andrews, S.C., Marquette, Mich., Tempe, Ariz. and Madison, Wis. round out the top 25.

Filed under: North America, United States