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One of the most exciting parts of falling in love with someone is discovering all the little quirks, ambitions and interests that make up their personality. These little individualistic flourishes all add up to help you view your partner as truly unique. After all, hobbies can lead to great date ideas. There’s not much more exciting than being whisked away to try out a new activity on a date.
Of all the potential hobbies that we like to busy ourselves with, however, which is the most attractive, and does it differ between states? And perhaps, if we could just figure out the most attractive hobbies across the USA, then we would be able to suggest the best possible first dates for each state!
We’re not ones to rest on our laurels at EliteSingles, and so we decided to find out the nation’s most attractive hobby ourselves. We surveyed a massive 325,000 of our users in order to find the answer.
Participants were asked to rank a wide variety of hobbies including comedy, cooking, health and fitness, charity work, photography, hiking, dance, water sports and many more, on a scale of one to ten. The results we have gathered not only show a fascinating differentiation across the United States, but also lend us some great date ideas!
Travelling soars ahead
If the wanderlust bug has been nibbling at you recently, you’re far from alone. Travel is the most attractive hobby in 48 out of 50 states – with the only exceptions being Vermont and Montana, who apparently prefer their pastimes more localized. In today’s world this won’t come as much of a surprise, with greater numbers than ever before jetting off into the sunset. It seems that singles across the USA prefer a partner who isn’t averse to the occasional adventure in unfamiliar territories. And who can blame them?
We then went one further, and charted the top five states for travelling, by taking the states in which travelling had the highest average score on the 0-10 scale.
The Top Five Globetrotting States
- Florida
- California
- Nevada
- Georgia
- Arizona
The USA’s most loved hobbies
Although travel dominated the number one spot for most attractive hobby, the battle for second place had several key combatants, which varied from state to state. On the maps below, you can flick through the various states and find out which hobby is considered most popular and attractive in yours. Interestingly, from looking at the map you’ll notice that certain hobbies are very much consigned to certain areas of the country – for example, a large number of Southern states list music as their second favorite hobby, and coastal states like California and Florida tend to prefer fine dining!
Check out the results on our neat interactive map:
Great date ideas: Are you a film fanatic or mad for music?
If you’ve had a flick through the various maps, you’ll have seen the other ‘Top Five’ lists we were able to draw from our data. By comparing the answers of every single in every state, we’ve been able to rank the states in order of how strongly they feel about a particular hobby. Take music, for instance: the states with singles most desperately seeking a guitar playing, dulcet-toned, multi-talented music maestro are:
Top 5 Musical States
- Georgia
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Alabama
- Maryland
As for the movie buffs out there, the ones at the top of the pile are:
Top 5 Cinephile States
- California
- Nevada
- Maryland
- Texas
- Illinois
Coastal camaraderie
One trend that becomes apparent when ranking each state in order of their passion for a particular activity or pastime is the relative locations where each hobby is the most popular. Many states ended up appearing in multiple ‘Top 5’ lists, which could indicate something about the nature of people living there. Californians, for example, rank in the top five states for cinema fans, travelling, and fine dining!
Top 5 Foodie States
- New Jersey
- Florida
- Rhode Island
- California
- Connecticut
Meanwhile, states like Rhode Island, Florida, Maryland and Georgia also appear in various ‘Top 5’ lists – and interestingly, all of these are coastal states. However, when it comes to preferring natural beauty in getting out in the great outdoors, it’s a whole different ball game, as landlocked states such as Montana and Idaho come out ahead.
Top 5 Outdoorsy States
- Montana
- Idaho
- Colorado
- Vermont
- Wyoming
Guys want a sporty partner, girls like a man of culture
So, it looks as though the USA is pretty divided when it comes to which hobbies and pastimes we find the most attractive. What about men and women, though? Are there any notable gender-based distinctions between the pastimes that we find most attractive in the opposite sex?
Women and men mostly share the same beliefs about which pastime are the hottest, with a couple of mutual winners being travel, music, spending time outdoors, cinema, and personal development. However, the 174,000+ women surveyed showed a preference for a partner with a taste for more artistic and cultural hobbies, such as fine dining, concerts, and cookery. Men, on the other hand, seemed to prefer partners whose hobbies were more action-orientated, with health & fitness and (weirdly) comedy ranking in their top ten most attractive hobbies for a partner.
So, if you’ve been searching for some great date ideas, you know what to do: ladies, dust off your funny bones, and men, roll up your sleeves and get started on that soufflé!
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