If you?re single and looking for a date in the Baltimore-Washington region it shouldn’t be too difficult ? at least according to a new report by Forbes.com.
The online news site, this week ranked the Baltimore-Washington area as the ninth best metro area for singles.
“This says some great things about the area and it tell us that there are a lot of opportunities for single people,” said David Ewalt, a staff writer with Forbes.com. “There are plenty of places to go and plenty of things to see and there are interesting people out there.”
Ewalt said that to compile the list the news site looked at seven different elements of each city: number of singles, nightlife, culture, cost of living alone, job growth, online dating and coolness, which is rated based on the area’s diversity and number of creative jobs.
Coleman Devlin, a 36-year-old financial adviser with Ryan Beck & Co. who lives in Federal Hill, said the dating scene in the Baltimore metro region is indeed hot.
“I think the downtown Baltimoresingles scene is great and there are a ton of hot people,” Devlin said. “And, Baltimore is a friendly place so wherever you?re going out ? whether it’s in Canton, Fells Point or Federal Hill ? you’re going to meet nice people.”
Devlin said that what makes Baltimore such a prime area for singles is the cross section of the city?s neighborhoods, which each offer a different experience.
Meanwhile, Bryan Stark, assistant vice president of marketing at Kennedy Krieger, said that while Washington is a better market for singles, Baltimore has come a long way in terms of its offerings.
“D.C. is more of a singles scene than Baltimore because you’ve got [destination] areas where people can go from restaurant, to bar, to club,” said Stark, 40. “You’ve several options right at your finger tips. In Baltimore, during the last couple of years, I?ve definitely seen more interesting restaurants, bars and activities than there were three to five years ago.”
Stark added that online dating has also made it easier to meet singles in the area.
“Ten years ago, you?d have to go out to a restaurant or bar or join a club,” Stark said. “Now you can go online and you can sort of prescreen and find people who have similar interests. To some extent it makes it a little easier to meet people online rather than going out to the same watering hole over and over again.”
