Love-hate relationship

Conflicting reports rank San Antonio among most — and least — romantic cities in U.S.

San Antonio downtown skyline skyscrapers

San Antonio is ranked among the best — and worst — cities for romance.

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Do San Antonians have hearts in their eyes or are they seeing daggers? It depends on who you ask. Recently, Alamo City has landed on several lists gauging the amorousness of U.S. cities, and the results are all over the map.

First, the good news. According to users of OpenTable, San Antonio is one of the most romantic cities in America, and the most romantic city in Texas. The online reservation hub based its rankings on three variables: percentage of restaurants that users rated as romantic, percentage of two-seater tables, and percentage of people in 2017 who dined out for Valentine’s Day.

According to the OpenTable data, Southerners have the most time for romance. Biloxi, Mississippi; Birmingham, Alabama; and Virginia Beach, Virginia nabbed the top three spots. San Antonio came in at 14, well ahead of Austin (19) and Fort Worth (20), the only other Texas cities to make the list. The site also recently ranked Signature at La Cantera as one of the 100 Most Romantic Restaurants in the U.S.

San Antonio is also head over heels for love songs. Looking at the most romantic songs streamed per capita, Amazon Music ranked San Antonio No. 5 in its 2018 list of the Top 10 Love Song Capitals, just behind No. 4 Houston.

It’s not clear exactly what factors Amazon considered in selecting what constitutes a love song. The retail giant listed Demi Lovato’s hit “Sorry Not Sorry” as the 2018 most streamed love-related song in America, which may just indicate that a lot of people have been spurned. That certainly seems to be the case in San Antonio, where there are enough ghosts and zombies running about to cast an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

According to a conflicting report from Instacart, San Antonians just aren’t feeling Valentine’s Day this year. For the second year in a row, the online delivery service ranked romance across America based on specific searches on the site. They identified 12 key terms that traditionally spike in the lead-up to February 14, including chocolate, Champagne, strawberries, wine, flowers, and candy. San Antonio landed near the bottom of the list, ranking as the seventh least romantic city in the U.S., just slightly ahead of Houston, No. 8.

So what does it all mean? Some San Antonians are catching Cupid’s arrow at swoon-worthy spots all around town, while some are spending the day letting the air out of their exes’ gas tanks. But as with most things, San Antonians are celebrating Valentine’s Day in their own inimitable style.

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at least it's not utah

Texas is the 2nd worst state for women's equality, report says

Photo by Vonecia Carswell on Unsplash

Texas needs to work on closing many disparity gaps between men and women.

Texas, we have a major equality problem: The Lone Star State has ranked second from the bottom in WalletHub's new nationwide analysis of gender equality.

The personal finance website's annual "Best & Worst States for Women's Equality" report, published August 19, ranked Texas No. 49 out of all 50 states where where women receive the most equal treatment in the United States. Texas is accompanied in the bottom five by Utah (No. 50), Wyoming (No. 48), Idaho (No. 47), and Missouri (No. 46).

At the top of the list of the best states for women's equality is Hawaii (No. 1), followed by California (No. 2), Minnesota (No. 3), Maine (No. 4), and New Mexico (No. 5).

The study ranked each state based on 17 metrics in three key dimensions: Workplace environment, education and health, and political empowerment. Factors that were examined in the study include income disparity, job security disparity, the share of the population aged 25 and older with an advanced degree (higher than a bachelor's degree), and the disparity in the share of Congress members and other elected officials, among others.

Texas earned a miserable score of 39.75 points out of a possible 100. The state performed about average in the "workplace environment" equality rank, earning No. 23. But it fell far behind in the "political empowerment" ranking, scoring No. 40. The state landed at the bottom in the national comparison of "education and health" equality, ranking No. 49.

Texas' ranking may not come as a surprise for women living in San Antonio, where the gender pay gap in the city means men earn over $6,400 more than women. And somehow, this is one of the better metrics.

Here's how WalletHub broke down Texas' ranking, where No. 1 is the best and No. 25 is average:

No. 21 – Earnings Gap
No. 21 – Entrepreneurship Rate Gap
No. 22– Work Hours Gap
No. 32 – Executive Positions Gap
No. 40 – Unemployment Rate Gap
No. 40 – Political Representation Gap

Unfortunately, closing these disparity gaps in Texas (and elsewhere) isn't so simple, according to WalletHub analyst Cassandra Happe. She said it's going to take much more than "giving men and women the same fundamental rights" to ensure true equality.

"States also need to work to make sure that women receive equal treatment to men when it comes to financial opportunities, education, and politics," Happe says in the report. "The best states for women’s equality have drastically reduced the disparities between men and women on multiple fronts."

According to WalletHub, the best state for women's equality is Hawaii, earning a score of 79.24 points out of 100. Hawaii has the third smallest gap in work hours between men and women, and no gap in the rate of men and women who are minimum-wage workers. Furthermore, the state has an equal share of political representatives that are men and women in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

Things aren't looking good for Texas from WalletHub's point of view; In another recent study, the personal finance website also determined that Texas is the No. 15 worst state to live in the U.S.

The full report and its methodology can be found on wallethub.com.

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