Sex & Relationships

Looking for love in the USA? This NYC borough comes out on top, dating app says

Searching for your soul mate in Manhattan?

Fuhgeddaboutit!

New data from the dating app Match found that Brooklyn is the nation’s best place to meet people serious about finding love.

“[Brooklynites] really have full lives, different hobbies and interests, but [they’re] still making love a priority above all,” Rachel DeAlto, chief dating expert for Match, told The Post of the report, which tabulated that a greater percentage of Brooklyn users put wording about “searching for love and a serious relationship” on their profile than in any of the other 99 metro areas surveyed.

“Brooklynites are definitely mature, open and interested in finding their person,” DeAlto added. “Manhattan just has a different vibe.”

City singles seem to concur.

“I’ve definitely had more success in Brooklyn,” said Ron McNeil, 32, a security guard who lives in Harlem but was hanging out in Williamsburg’s Domino Park on a recent evening. “Going out and trying to impress in Manhattan isn’t an easy task. [It] just has that ‘Sex and the City‘ feel — it’s all the corporate, busy types … Brooklyn is the place to do it.”

Your best bet at successful romance is in Brooklyn, Harlem resident Ron McNeil says. William C. Lopez/NY Post
People in Manhattan can be very closed off and tough to get to know, according to Pace student Elle Smith. Annie Wermiel/NY Post

Elle Smith, a 21-year-old photography student at pace, lives on the Lower East Side but agrees that it’s easier to find love across the East River. She left a long-term relationship months ago but has struggled to meet anyone new in her neighborhood.

“People keep more to themselves here,” Smith said.

“On dating apps, we get more hits from Brooklyn when we’re in The Bronx actually.” — electrician Gerson Minaya (left), 48, and volleyball coach Alex James, 39, both from the South Bronx. Annie Wermiel/NY Post

Another Manhattanite — and a 2024 Olympic hopeful in the modern pentathlon — Sam Ruddock met his girlfriend at a birthday party in Brooklyn in winter 2020.

“I’ve been to competitions and met people in Moscow, Poland, Italy, Bulgaria, China, Peru, Canada and so many other places worldwide, but this is my first really serious relationship and it’s thanks to Brooklyn,” Ruddock, 28 and an Upper East Sider, told The Post. “Maybe there’s something in the air in Brooklyn that makes you more open.”

A Team USA contender for the modern pentathlon at the Olympics, Sam Ruddock has been all over the globe, but Brooklyn is where he found love. Annie Wermiel/NY Post
“We’re always in Brooklyn doing cute and gay stuff…the queer scene here is better than anywhere else,” says model Alysha Gross-Troutman (left), 32, and artist Sunni Musique, 27. William C. Lopez/NY Post

Alex Spears, 35, said it’s the fact that bars and restaurants have a more open feel that makes people more likely to find love in Brooklyn.

“Neighborhood spots,” said the bartender, who lives in Williamsburg, “have the energy of [Manhattan] without the claustrophobia.”

But Hailey Rosenblatt, a 29-year-old event MC and podcast host who lives in the Financial District, said Brooklyn is “just all hype.”

Brooklyn’s dating scene is an overrated one, according to FiDi resident Hailey Rosenblatt. Annie Wermiel/NY Post

“Nothing can really compare to Manhattan at the end of the day. There’s a reason people go to the Brooklyn waterfront to look at the Manhattan skyline after all,” she said.

Currently single, Rosenblatt has spent much of her summer checking out Little Island and the “Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit.”

“Manhattan still has all the things you want to do and all the places people dream of going on romantic adventures, and for me, that will always be the best,” she said. “Seriously, who wouldn’t want to go on a date here?”

Benjamin Swanson, a Chicago-area transplant, sounded off on how tough the MTA makes it to see people far and wide across NYC. William C. Lopez/NY Post

Ultimately, though, the best borough for finding love may be the one you live in. Benjamin Swanson, a 24-year-old model and actor living in Williamsburg, put it succinctly.

“The trains suck,” he said. “It’s definitely made me want to stay more local when it comes to dating.”