Another One: Pittsburgh is a most livable city, for divorced people

Pittsburgh is the best city for a lot of things, according to random studies published constantly so that news outlets will write about them, thus advertising for the company that does the study. Most recently, LendingTree, an “online loan marketplace,” published a study titled “Best Places to Recover from Divorce,” in which Pittsburgh tied for fourth place with Denver, Colo. Hooray for accommodating divorcés.

The study analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau to determine the financial status of adults ages 35-64 in the 50 largest cities and “how promising their prospects are for dating and new marriages.”

The cities to beat in terms of welcoming the divorced include Detroit, Mich., Milwaukee, Wisc., and Minneapolis, Minn. And you’re probably dying to know, "What are the worst cities in which to recover from divorce?" LendingTree provided that, too. New York City, Memphis, Tenn., and Virginia Beach., Va. are the three worst places.

One of the factors included in this study is a “remarriage risk factor score,” which includes the percentage of divorced people and the percentage of divorced people who have previously been married three times or more. “The fact that the three-plus wedding club is bigger in some metros than others suggests local conditions may be adding to marriage failures,” explains LendingTree. Apparently, the rate of thrice-plus divorce in Pittsburgh is 4.7% (the highest is Birmingham, Ala. at 11.7%).

Interestingly, a website called Insurify “awarded” Pittsburgh as the best city in Pennsylvania for singles (there is literally only one other city that could be considered). Possibly related (but probably not), Insurify also ranked New Castle, Pa., as the “most patriotic city” in Pennsylvania (award determined by percentage of car owners who were in the military, for some reason). WalletHub has ranked Pittsburgh as the 36th “most sinful city in America,” so I Googled, “Is divorce a sin?” but results were inconclusive.

The big question about this divorce ranking is what we’re supposed to do once we’ve learned that Pittsburgh is a pretty good place to recover from divorce. Should people “recovering” from a divorce move here? Should people mid-divorce turn down a job opportunity in Raleigh, N.C., because it has a remarriage risk score of 48.7? Should happily married Pittsburghers get divorced but date secretly, thus maintaining their happiness, to increase our score and get us to number one?

No one can say for sure, but it feels good to once again be named the most livable city, for somebody.