CRESTVIEW — The Hub City might be the Love City if an online real estate brokerage's website is accurate. Crestview ranks seventh of 50 Florida cities for singles looking for love.
Movoto, "the fun real estate research site," according to the company's public relations associate Chad Stiffney, compiled the list by comparing these data:
•Percent of population within the 18-44 “dating age range”
•Percent of population who take public transit, because "you’re not going to find love in your car"
•Number of singles per bar; "the fewer the better"
•Number of singles per romantic restaurant; "ditto"
Crestview was the only Northwest Florida city to make the top 10 list.
"Crestview … ranked 26th for singles within our dating age range, comprising 40.5 percent or 6,349 of its residents," Movoto content editor Randy Nelson stated in an online article. "You’re not going to meet these folks during your commute, though, as a mere .55 percent of them take public transportation.
"On the bright side, the city ranked 49th for bars with one for every 454 singles and 32nd for romantic restaurants, with one place offering perfect date night ambience for every 529 unattached residents."
The website didn't specify which area restaurant offered that "perfect date night ambience," but Mike McDuffie, who co-owns The Wild Olive with his wife Susan, likes to think Movoto had their establishment in mind.
"I'm not sure our place would be the place to meet anybody but it sure would be a nice place to come if they brought them here once they met them," he said.
Movoto's 'Love Meter'
Movoto ranked all 162 Florida cities with populations above 5,000 people.
"Each place was then given a score from 1 to 162 in the four criteria, with one being the best," Nelson stated in his article.
"Finally, we averaged these scores together to get an overall Big Deal Score, the lowest of which was our winner."
Topping the list was South Miami, a Miami suburb of 12,000 people. At the bottom of the top 50 was Haines City, a town south of Orlando.
Rounding out the top 10 were Palmetto, Key West, Lake Worth and Kissimmee (tie), Sebring, Longwood (tied with Crestview), Miami Beach and Cocoa Beach.
Destin ranked 49th; Niceville, 40th; and Pensacola, 27th. Fort Walton Beach did not make the top 50.
See Movoto's list of top 50 Florida cities for singles here >>
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview ranks 7th in state for singles looking for love