We may have erroneously advised you last week when we suggested that dating is a real-estate problem. In fact, it may not matter where you live so much as how often you stock up on flip-flops and toilet paper. According to this awesome/depressing infographic by Dorothy Gambrell for Psychology Today, a full 30 percent of states are logging the most Missed Connections at Walmart, land of the suddenly suggestive-seeming gun rack, drill bit, and Frito Lay. Supermarkets come in second, followed by public transportation. Here's the full atlas to America's heart:
Gambrell's map shows the most frequently cited location where a Missed Connection occurred. The fine print: All data are based on each state's 100 most recent Missed Connections posted on Craigslist at the time of data collection.
Gambrell also tracked the most common places for Missed Connections by age. Twenty-year-olds are most likely to ogle each other at the ice-cream shop and 30-year-olds, predictably, at bars. Desperate fortysomethings, though, are finding each other at adult bookstores and strip clubs, which may have more to do with the increased skeeviness of Craigslist posters as they age than the character of the entire divorcé dating pool.
Read between the lines and the map tells a larger story—where we spend most of our free time. According to Grambell's slice of data, just three states put in decent hours at the gym: California, Arizona, and Virginia (plus Maryland, which goes to the park). Most of the rest of us are shopping, or on our way to shopping via public transit or parking lots. Mystifyingly, Georgia manages to scope out potential dates in the car. And Hoosiers are somehow checking out strangers AT HOME.

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