Actually, BuffaloSoldier, Buffalo is shedding younger people no faster than any other region. Retention isn't the primary burden of this generation. According to a recent study by UB, it's the trouble attracting *new* younger residents that has us falling a bit behind. Rankings such as these couldn't hurt in boosting our numbers, for sure. I'll take top 35 in any nationwide ranking!

THE DATING SHOW ON A & E "Confessions of a matchmaker" IS AN ABSOLUTE EMBARASSMENT TO THIS CITY

Why would you televise a show filmed in the dead of the winter and air it in the summer - RETARDED - !!!

The lady host of the show is one of "Buffalo's finest" and the single people on the show are even more embarassing.

The show does nothing but reinforce all the negativity surronding this city.

THE DATING SHOW ON A & E "Confessions of a matchmaker" IS AN ABSOLUTE EMBARASSMENT TO THIS CITY

Why would you televise a show filmed in the dead of the winter and air it in the summer - RETARDED - !!!

The lady host of the show is one of "Buffalo's finest" and the single people on the show are even more embarassing.

The show does nothing but reinforce all the negativity surronding this city. I have friends from across the country calling and laughing at how bad it is to be single here.

I heard that show Matchmaker was horrible, I should see actually how bad it is.

But didn't Buffalo end up dead LAST in a Mens Health survey on best city for singles?

^^ Couldnt agree more. why did we do so poorly in the cost of living category? Isnt that our claim to fame? I also think we could have scored higher in culture given our architecture, art, festivals, theater, small stores & restaurants and lack of chains. but i think we did pretty good on the coolness category. however being on the list is pretty good by itself!

there is nothing good about being single in Buffalo - city is so small, everyone knows your business, no privacy - if you date someone here, you have a trail of X's harassing wherever you go

thank you, gaustad. That is sooo true. When I lived in your city last year, I found it very hard to date and found it much easier to stay single. From the same old questions "what clubs do you go too?", "do you club", "what school did you go too?" and if you say you didn't grow up here and don't know the same people, your left with akward silence and "nice meeting you". It's so lame. I find it much easier to date in a larger city where people don't give a shit that you're not a native of the area, or who you know and so on.

my brother on the wesat coast watches that "dating" game. they make a party of it, have a good laugh and reinforces any reason not to move back...pity they filmed it here in buffalo.

west...sorry

I really blew it. They tell me this after I've already taken the plunge and given up the singles lifestyle. Oh well, nothing in life is permanent. You also have take the poll for what its worth (not much).... remember that Playboy magazine in the past has voted St. Bonaventure as one of the top "party" schools in the country.......c'mon , really? I've been there a number of times to visit friends and its no different than any other small private university in a small town.

I don't think the matchmaker show makes us look bad. If anything, it actually shows that we are a real city with things to do and places to go. The shots of everything from Elmwood to our great/hip looking restaurants are cool.

I don't think the matchmaker show makes us look bad. If anything, it actually shows that we are a real city with things to do and places to go. The shots of everything from Elmwood to our great/hip looking restaurants are cool. I have no problem with it being filmed in the winter. It show that we still have a life here (to many outsiders surprise).

hrbuffinstuff, Do we really want to focus on rolling out the welcome mat for people like rickyrick who piss and moan the majority of the time? I never had any trouble dating here and found that dating someone who wasn't from here only gave us more to talk about, not less. Maybe what should be "taken to heart" is that perhaps it has something to do with the individual trying to date, not the city they live in, that is part of the problem. Both rickyrick and gaustad post mostly negative comments here and I can't imagine they are much different in person. Totally unfair comment, I know, because I don't know either of them, it's just a response to bashing my city because they find dating difficult which is even more unfair.

Hey BRO morons: They selected 40 cities in advance and then ranked them in order of how good they were for singles. Buffalo came 31 out of 40. In other words, 3/4 of the cities ranked are better for singles than Buffalo. Only BRO would be so desperate for news to twist any positive way they can, that they picked another article pointing out how lame this city is and twisted it to make this place look good. Either that, or "queenseyes" stayed at the bars til 4am and was still drunk when he/she read the Forbes article and couldn't comprehend it.

Am I the only one that recalls that report recently that ranked Buffalo dead last for singles?

Really, it depends on what you're analyzing. But, I think if we take a look at being ranked 31st and last... well, that averages out to not too great.

you're right vylit. in most cities, conversations generally start out w/ "what do you do for a living" , "where do you live", etc. here, conversations tend to begin w/ finding out who you may both know. also, my significant other is from out of town and often is reminded of that fact and treated as such. in that sense, this town is kind of provincial. on the other hand, and even though i disagree, i recall recently reading literally dozens of articles in NYC papers lamenting the dating scene there.

Unfortunately, some of us here in Buffalo suffer from the inferiority complex that says that we should be last in every ranking (as I write this while sitting in a hotel in last-place Providence).

Let's Go USA currently says that Buffalo is way cool...works for me

Not to nitpick (haha!) but a few inaccuracies in this, Chrish:

...Buffalo is shedding younger people no faster than any other region. Retention isn't the primary burden of this generation. According to a recent study by UB, it's the trouble attracting *new* younger residents that has us falling a bit behind.

- The recent study that got so much superficial media attention made no such claims about Buffalo. It analyzed all 49 counties of Upstate NY as a single entity. So it’s anyone’s guess whether or not Buffalo’s young adult out-migration is higher than national average. All that study said about it is that during 1995-2000 the young adult out-migration of Upstate NY as a whole was near the national average.

- Regarding Upstate’s attracting *new* younger residents, it is not “falling a bit behind” - it was dead last according to that study – i.e. if Upstate NY was a separate state it would be ranked #51 for attracting new young residents.

- It wasn’t done by UB, it was by the Federal Reserve Buffalo office. Here’s a link to it: http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/regional_economy/glance/upstate_glance1_07.pdf

I always found dating in Buffalo to be quit difficult. Aside from the region's strong family-friendly orientation, the "big small town where everyone knows your business" feeling others have mentioned, there's also the ethnic and religious insularity. It's not as prevalent as in the past, but many in their 30s and 40s will have stories of being rejected because they weren't of the same faith and/or ethnicity. Check out online dating sites such as match.com, and you'll still see a large number of profiles in Buffalo with preferences reading "Catholics only".

When I lived in Buffalo, or returned for any extended periods, my dating life seemed like a long, parched dry spell. When I left, it was as if the dating gods performed a rain dance. (I'm happily dating a fantastic woman here in Cleveland, BTW.)

> (rickyrick) . From the same old questions "what clubs do you go too?", "do you club", "what school did you go too?" and if you say you didn't grow up here and don't know the same people, your left with akward silence and "nice meeting you".

In the eastern suburbs of Cleveland, that's called "Jewish geography." Being a transplant to Cleveland, it can be frustrating as hell, and a real barrier to meeting others and creating a sense of community. Outside of the (large) Jewish community, it's not so much of a problem; the high school and mutual friend talk is rare. Maybe in Buffalo, the phenomenon should be called "Catholic geography", since it's so widespread.

why is anyone treating this list as a serious evaluation of our city? this is just one of those b.s. fluff pieces that news outlets create to sell magazines

al-alo, because so many around here are desperate for this area to receive praise and validation. Classic sign of insecurity.

But Ghengis is exactly right that Forbes did not rank Buffalo 31 out of all U.S. cities (as no doubt our drive-by media will imply) – they pre-selected 40 cities to rank and placed us 31 out of that group. This page describes their methodology:

http://www.forbes.com/2007/08/21/methodology-data-cities-forbeslife-singles07-cz_de_0821method.html

…To determine the best city for singles, we ranked 40 of the largest continental U.S. urban areas in seven different categories: nightlife, culture, job growth, number of singles, cost of living alone, coolness and online dating. Each metro is assigned a ranking of one to 40 in each category, based on quantitative data.

Carl, good point. So people who move away while in their 20s didn't count at all. That would seriously undercount all migration stats. It would be interesting to see a follow-up study that includes 20-somethings and also looks at individual metro areas. Until or unless that is done, we'll be hearing people over and over again claim that the study proved Buffalo does not have a disproportionately large exodus of young adults, when it really did not say that at all.

The dating questions in Buffalo seem to only work their way into "do you know this person at.....?" and it keeps going till finally you both know the same person or people. It's so sad and shows just how small Buffalo really is. Which is why, it's hard to date, especially break up and have to avoid locations so you don't run into the ex's friend or family members. (It's just easier to move away)

DAN, I grew up in Buffalo, have lived in California for 25 years. I come back twice a year for family reasons, but still go out when in town. A lot of what anybody brings to the table is "who you are". I like that I'm from Buffalo, I also like what I bring back to Buffalo. Being gay adds a whole different spin. We can all sit around and compare here vs. there. I love San Francisco, but Buffalo reminds me that I'm a good person. I wish the people in Buffalo realized how great they are..cautious, but warm..and once you get to know them, you are never forgotten. Dating sucks in any town, big, small, gay straight. WHATEV!..but Buffalo, at the risk of sounding pukey, is like a warm sweater on a very cold night......It might not be sexy, but its human and real.

> .It might not be sexy, but its human and real.

I know Buffalo may be the only real, authentic, honest, and genuine city in the United States, and that the entire country outside of Erie and Niagara counties is fake, pretentious, sanitized, and plastic. However, it's still a tough city for dating, IMHO. The peer group of single educated professionals is smaller than in similarly sized cities, and among those in their 30s and older there's still the fleeting remnants of old-school Buffalo culture; "My parents would disinherit me if they found out I was seeing someone who wasn't Italian"; "I could never get serious with anyone who isn't Catholic", the Northtowns-Southtowns divide, and so on.

Despite that, you can't take the Buffalo out of me. It's a state of mind.

Or, I can't date you because your father is black, or your mother stole from my mother back in high school or some other BS excuses.

Dan, I know what you mean, but thats when "you" step in. Just be who you are and let the chips fall where they may..If someone doesn't like you because you're not Italian., catholic, whatever...well, there loss. Its no different in a big city...Just a bigger pool of rejection, or..a bigger chance to succeed. You sound pretty intelligent, with something to offer. Roll with it..and let everyone else figure out their own drama.

"their" loss...not "there" loss.. I heart spell check, or is that grammar check? I told you I was from Caliifornia...

P.S. some member by the initials of "WC" left me a message, but I mistakenly deleted it before reading it...so. if 'WC" is still out there..mail me again..Thanks!

jhill - go put on your buffalo bills sweat suit and collect unemployment. you don't aspire to do anything with yourself.

Confessions of a match maker, weather you like it or not, does nothing to enhance the attributes that Buffalo has. It is a terrible show which only reinforces our struggling economic environment and rust belt image. Buffalo needs to reinvent itself to suceed.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression you idiot.

Rickyrick - you da man

Buffalo needs to rid of 90% of it's current population and bring in NEW Blood, build over all the vacant lots and re-develop the entire city from it's current run down ghetto appearence. Then, just maby, The city will be more appealing again.