Anyone who suspects there are more women than men where they live, or vice versa, will find fodder for their suspicions in new data from the US Census Bureau.
Whether it refutes or confirms their suspicions probably depends on where they live.
Women outnumber men in the largest urban counties east of the Mississippi River, along the East Coast and in the Deep South, while the West skews male, data released last week from the American's five-year estimates show Community Survey 2022, the most comprehensive source of data on American life. These figures were also supported by age and gender figures from the 2020 census released earlier this year.
There are limitations to what can be concluded from the data. Still, Nancy Averbach, 57, doesn't find the numbers surprising. She lost her husband eight years ago and has since found it difficult to meet a compatible partner.
In the U.S., there were 96.6 adult men for every 100 adult women in 2022, the most recent year figures are available — and in the Atlanta suburb of DeKalb County, where Averbach lives, that ratio was 87.1, according to the study . An equal ratio of men to women would be 100.
“It's very difficult to find quality men who share the same values,” says Averbach. There aren't many singles groups that cater to her age group, she says, and when such groups organize events, they tend to attract more women than men.
Her province has a low sex ratio, meaning there are more women than men. A high percentage indicates that there are more men than women.
The sex ratio figures do not reflect sexual preference, gender identity or whether respondents are looking for partners. The figures also do not reflect intersex people, for whom relatively little data has historically been collected about them.
The proportions vary by region, partly due to the presence of certain institutions and industries with gender imbalances. This is especially noticeable in the most populous provinces of the West. For example, San Diego has several male-dominated military bases, which is reflected in the gender ratio. In Austin, San Francisco, Seattle and San Jose, there are plenty of jobs in the tech sector, a sector where men make up about three-quarters of the workforce.
This contrasts with areas with a large number of colleges or universities, which tend to have more women, according to a May Census Bureau report.
Adding to the imbalance are the consequences of historic racism in the U.S., including high incarceration rates and the mortality gap, which have reduced the number of men in some communities, said Karen Guzzo, director of the University of California's Carolina Population Center North. Carolina.
Among U.S. counties with a population of 500,000 or more, the areas where the number of adult women greatest exceeded the number of adult men were in Baltimore, New York, Atlanta, and Philadelphia, as well as in Birmingham, Alabama; and Memphis, Tenn.; where proportions varied in the mid-1980s.
The largest gender imbalances, with ratios above 103 for people 18 and older, were recorded in the West, in counties that include Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Austin, as well as the California counties home to San Francisco, San Jose and Bakersfield, where agriculture and energy are two of the largest industries.
At birth, the sex ratio in the US has historically been 105 males for every 100 females. Around the age of 30, the ratio reverses. Because the death rate for men is higher than for women in almost every age group – due to violence, drinking, smoking, job hazards and suicide – that ratio declines with age, until age 90 or older. above, there are typically about two women for every man.
However, according to the 2020 census, more men are now living older than in the previous decade.
Michal Naisteter, a professional matchmaker in the Philadelphia area, has reflected on the imbalance — and especially in terms of the dating market because of her work. She thinks single women are more likely than men to live within Philadelphia city limits, but single men are more willing to commute from the suburbs than the other way around.
She advises those looking for a partner to make the effort, perhaps even to expand the geographic scope of their daily lives.
“It should take work,” Naisterer said. “Because nothing is sweeter than something you have to work for.”
In communities where there are more men than women, people tend to marry at a younger age than in places where there are more women than men. Women are more likely to live with a partner without getting married in places where they outnumber men, and when they do marry, it is more often with men who are less educated or earn less than them, Guzzo said.
That probably won't happen with Averbach, who is doing just fine on his own in suburban Atlanta.
“Why would I want to settle?” she said. “I don't need a man to make me happy.”
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