In a recent ranking of the loneliest cities in the United States, a few Texas cities — including Dallas — appeared.
Conducted by the Chamber of Commerce, the ranking was based on a report which examined Census Bureau data on people living alone from over 170 cities.
“Whether it’s your neighbor, a relative, or a coworker, there’s a good chance you know someone who lives alone,” the report shared.
Nationwide, more than 36 million Americans live alone, meaning that 29% of all households are one-person households.
The nation’s capital, Washington DC, came in at the head of the list as the loneliest city, whereas Californian cities dominated the other end of the spectrum, with Fontana named the least lonely city.
Dallas ranked number 28 among the loneliest cities, which was just a little higher (and less lonely) than Austin at number 25. The share of one-person households was 38.7% in Dallas and 39.1% in Austin.
Bucking the trend, Garland ranked seventh in the list of least lonely cities, according to the report.
The report also looked at the percentage of males and females living alone in each city. In Austin, just over 20% of males lived alone and right over 18% of females lived alone. In Dallas, 19.4% of males lived alone and 19.4% of females lived alone.
One contributing factor in the recent trend of solitary living is later marriages. The report states that in 2022, the average age to marry was 30.1 years old for men and 28.2 years old for women.
For many Texas cities, the recent COVID-19 pandemic led to significant increases in one-person households.
While Austin came in seventh, Brownsville, located on the western Gulf Coast in South Texas, ranked second in the list of cities growing lonelier. This is especially true for male residents, who saw a 26.6% annual increase (the largest among other cities) in single households. Irving came in fifth on this list.
Texas women were growing lonelier in Pasadena (No.3) and Grand Prairie (No.4), according to the report.
Dallas has also been getting lonelier each year since 2016, according to the report. Each year the number of single households has increased by an average of around 4.02%.
Some of the others that ranked on the list were St. Louis, Missouri (No.2); Alexandria, Virginia (No.3); Richmond, Virginia (No.4); and Cincinnati, Ohio (No.5).