A serious relationship? And when you look at the metrics the San Francisco-based startup used, you might even want to improve on them. Make your own list. Sell it to people who might be interested.
Census data provides the first metric, the percentage of men and women aged who are unmarried in each of the metropolitan areas of the United States. Who knew the young people of Pittsfield, Massachusetts area were most likely to be single 83 percent? Ulster County, at 81 percent, tied with four other metros for second place. At 21 percent, Ulster County is alas next-to-last-ranked among the top 25 metros in this category.
The top scorers, Boston and San Francisco with 41 percent each, appear almost twice as brainy as poor Ulster County. Ulster County does far better when it comes to the number of restaurants and bars per capita, its rating of Ulster County was next to last in this fourth criterion, its 78 percent only ahead of Champaign-Urbana with 77 percent. Unsurprisingly for a real-estate-app company, Zumper used median rent for a one-bedroom apartment as its final metric. Zumper weighted the factors as follows: The percentage of singles and the educational score each accounted for a quarter of the final grade, restaurants and app accessibility 20 percent each, and the rental price ten percent.
There was an adjustment for gender specificity. And finally every contending metro was given a final grade, just as they received in school. A charming combination poised on the boundary between data science and wish fulfillment, the Zumper analysis is the perfect instrument for a digital generation.
Moreover, it could be customized in any number of ways. Singles, colleges, restaurant owners and app designers could join together in a holy brotherhood and market the hell out of a formerly rural county in which people had to meet each other on the streets, whether for a summer fling or a serious relationship.
