Men’s magazine: Portland is ‘where the babes are,’ second only to D.C. in eligible women

In the past in this blog space, I’ve pointed out when Portland restaurants, coffee shops, bars and the city itself have received national attention for one high quality or another.

National publications to place Portland or a Portland-based entity in a “Best ____ of America” type list, or to at least make positive mention of our local people and establishments, include Zagat, Travel + Leisure, Draft Magazine, Outside magazine, Game Informer, The Huffington Post and — if you stretch the search parameters out to include the southern half of the state — Forbes.

But, as one debonair single fellow in Portland pointed out to me this week, I missed one.

Late last month, Men’s Health magazine listed 100 U.S. cities in terms of where the most eligible women are. The headline on the piece, succinctly states: “Where the babes are.”

The second best place in America to find women, according to Men’s? Portland, Maine.

Miss Old Port Cortney Goodin, 2nd runner-up in the 2012 Miss Maine USA pageant (Houser Photography)

Portland comes in No. 2 behind Washington, D.C., and directly ahead of Boston, Seattle, New York and San Francisco. At the bottom of the list, in Nos. 98, 99 and 100 — in case you’re wondering — are Toledo, Oh., Bakersfield, Cali., and Las Vegas.

(Las Vegas is last? That’s a bit of a surprise. I mean, it’s no Portland, but still…)

Wondering how Men’s Health made their calculations? Here’s how they explain it:

Unlike the grid-locked lawmakers in D.C., we didn’t draft legislation and let it languish in a subcommittee. Instead, we undertook a nonpartisan examination of the data on datable citizens: the ratio of single women to single men, the percentage of college-educated women, the percentage of gainfully employed single women (all from the Census), and the number who work out (Experian Simmons).

Experian Simmons is a nationwide consumer research firm, for those unfamiliar with the name. Men’s Health doesn’t appear to write up blurbs about each individual city on its list, but it does offer a few tips for the guys in town who might be searching for these eligible women.

First, the magazine says it’s important to work toward keeping neighborhoods safe:

Wondering where the single women in your city went? Maybe they’re all indoors. No matter how safe an area is, if a woman perceives danger, she’ll spend less time running, biking, or walking outside, according to a study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. One way to make your hood hospitable: Add streetlights near bars and restaurants, says Michael Scott, director of the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing. Ask city officials to brighten up dimly lit public spaces.

Second, Men’s Health recommends picking the appropriate online dating website for your interests. The magazine says to go for eHarmony in searching for a long-term relationship or marriage, and to check out OkCupid for more casual dating purposes.

Best of luck, fellas.
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Seth Koenig

About Seth Koenig

Seth has nearly a decade of professional journalism experience and writes about the greater Portland region.