40 Years After Mary: Minneapolis Chosen As One Of The Best Places For A Woman to Live

[Brian Damage]

The next time you and your girlfriends are about to throw a pity party, consider this: The Twin Cities is a pretty good place for women to live.

In a study of the top 25 most populous metro areas, Minneapolis-St. Paul was trumped only by Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Boston. Conducted by Measure of America, a program of the Social Science Research Council, the "Women's Well-Being" report uses a formula called the American Human Development Index to crunch government data on health and longevity, access to knowledge and standard of living.

D.C. women make the most money, with an average salary of $38,000, which the study correlates to the high percentage who have never married (34 percent). San Francisco women live the longest (life expectancy of 84.5 years). Women in Houston, San Antonio and California's Riverside-Bernadino fared worst overall, but life expectancy was worst in Detroit, Baltimore and St. Louis.

The Twin Cities lands in the top three of women who finish high school, and was sixth in life expectancy (tied with New York at 83.4).

Yeah, some of you will still grouse about finding romance around here. Well, according to a round-up of "Best Cities to Find a Date in 2012" from a different list at the Daily Beast website, the Twin Cities ranks fifth in this category, as well, with singles pretty evenly matched -- 65 percent men to 66 percent women. Of course, the study includes no gradations based on relative quality, so feel free to disagree.

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/151401265.html