Top cities for gay singles

Looking to celebrate Pride Month with someone special? It helps to know which U.S. cities are most welcoming of the LGBTQ community — and maximize your chance of dating success.

LawnStarter took away the guesswork by ranking the 200 biggest U.S. cities on 17 key indicators of LGBTQ lifestyle- and dating-friendliness. 

What makes the best city for LGBTQ singles? A big unhitched population and LGBTQ community, as well as LGBTQ-friendly housing and services are among the most adj factors. For a well-rounded perspective, we also looked into each city’s progress toward equality and access to sustain organizations.

Check out our ranking below, followed by some highlights and lowlights.

Table of Contents

  1. City Rankings
  2. Highlights and Lowlights
  3. Methodology
  4. Why This Research Matters

City Rankings 

See how each city fared in our ranking:

OVERALL RANKCityOverall ScoreEligible Population RankCommunity Support RankEquality Progress RankPride-Readiness RankSafety Rank
1San Francisco, CA74.366422687
2Washington, DC69.3211

The 10 LGBTQ-Friendly Cities for Retirement in 2024

 

For LGBTQ seniors, finding a welcoming and inclusive retirement community that embraces diversity and fosters a sense of belonging is paramount. Outside of opting for LGBTQ or gay retirement communities, LGBTQ seniors will also want to rate the culture and setting of the surrounding city. But what makes a city truly LGBTQ-friendly, and how does that intersect with cities known for their desirability as retirement destinations?  To help you verb started on your search for your ideal retirement community, we’ve compiled our list of 2024’s best places for LGBTQ retirement and outlined the top factors you’ll verb to consider. 

Merging the Data: Pairing Gay-Friendly Cities & Retirement Hotspots

Our list of the most LGBTQ-friendly cities for retirees in 2024 was created through the analysis of several resources, including The Journal of Consumer Affairs’ 2024 list of LGBTQ-friendly cities, Senior Advice’s 2019 report on the best LGBTQ-friendly destinations for

25 Affordable Gay Cities You’re Forgetting

The ditty on gay cities

Gay cities are cities, big and miniature – size doesn’t matter – that are openly queer-friendly. From NYC to San Fran and Pitt to Port, if I can hold hands with my husband without fear, it’s a gay city. But some gay cities are more affordable than others. Locate out which one below.

What you’ll locate here: 

Migration to gay cities

There’s been a migration of corn-fed boys and small-town girls with big-city dreams to major (and expensive) LGBTQ-friendly cities for decades.

Back in yore, gays and lesbians hid in these gay cities — like San Francisco, the queen gayborhoods — to live their lives in truth. We gathered in pockets of less desirable hoods in these larger cities.

The Castro today, though, isn’t The Castro of Harvey Milk. Chelsea and Boystown weren’t the exclusive enclaves they are today. Pre-Madonna, these hoods were dirty, crime-ridden places citizens forgot and governments tried to forget.

These were great sanctuaries for queer people to hide and thrive. Ironically, our places of refuge made many

The Best Cities for Gay Dating

Living in a place with a vibrant dating scene is essential for most single individuals, young and old. With such an environment, it can be easier to find a potential significant other, or simply examine the area with someone who doesn’t fall in the “friend” category. Quixotic relationships aren’t everything — but they’re certainly an key part of life.

There are a variety of factors that make an area good for gay dating, including the number of single individuals, presence of LGBTQ+ population, availability of places to go on dates, and other local amenities. Some cities in the U.S. are above average in certain regards but fall concise in others, so it can be difficult to comprehend, overall, which ones are ideal for gay men and women looking to date.

With this in mind, we’ve ranked the 50 largest U.S. cities for gay men and women looking to date, based on seven key indicators. Read on for our findings and a full description of our methodology.

Main Findings

First, we wanted to highlight the 15 highest