Numbers-crunching by a journalist confirms a tough truth for single young women in Metro Detroit with higher education: There are a lot more of them than unwed, similarly aged men with college degrees.
It's a national reality, reports associate editor Jonathan Weissmann of The Atlantic, who analyzes Census data for single college grads under 35.
The number of college-educated women now far outstrips the number of college-educated men, which in turn has diminished their options in the dating pool. . . . With females about 27 percent more likely to earn a bachelor's than males, many find themselves marrying down the educational ladder. . . .
I've spent the last few days sorting through Census data on the country's 100 or so largest metro areas to figure out where the disparities are worst -- or in other words, where a college-educated woman might have the hardest time finding a good date.
The local statistical area looked at -- Detroit, Livonia and Warren -- has the eighth-largest female-to-male gap among college alumni under 35 among the 15 largest U.S. metro regions. (See chart below.)
Detroit and its two suburbs have 28.6 percent more single female college grads than males in the under-35 segment -- just under the national median of 29.7 percent.
The local area ranks 44th best on Weissmann's full national list of 102 areas, with the No. 1 region having the smallest gap (Ogden, Utah, 3.5 percent) and the 102nd having the largest (Sarasota, Fla., 82.3 percent).
In other words, the three local cities are in the best half of large U.S. metro areas nationally for mate-seeking women. (The magazine considers regions with at least 500,000 residents, using 2011 Census data.)
