When a single man or woman leaves a major city like London, one of the main concerns often revolves around what the move will mean for their love life. Moving from a vast dating pool to a much smaller one can feel like risking lifelong singledom.
In smaller cities, many thirtysomethings seem coupled up; either locals who found love in their 20s or outsiders who moved with partners to start families. On dating apps, it doesn’t take long to exhaust the local singles with platforms like Hinge repeatedly showing the same faces.
However, some individuals are finding that the grass isn’t necessarily greener in cities like London. New data supports this view. Demographer Stephen J Shaw, in his analysis of British women aged 25 to 35 found a significant urban disparity in the dating market. In London 47% of women cited finding a partner as the main barrier to starting a family, compared to a national figure (excluding London and the southeast) of 32%.
Further complicating the issue, women in London outnumber men in this age bracket by 7%
making it challenging for them to find and maintain a good relationship. Shaw concluded
that women in London ‘face a remarkably high challenge in finding a family-oriented partner’ and might fare better moving elsewhere.
At the Professional Matchmaker, we feel that while moving to a smaller city may seem like a gamble, the challenges faced by single women in London suggest that smaller cities may offer better prospects for those seeking meaningful connections.