WalletHub
Feb. 13. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner and America’s sweethearts expected to spend billions on the holiday this year, the personal-finance website WalletHub released its report on 2023’s Best Places for Valentine’s Day.
Charlotte came in 27. The top places were the West Coast cities of San Francisco, California; Seattle, Washington; San Diego, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Portland, Oregon.
The worst places: Birmingham, Alabama; Toledo, Ohio; Cleveland, Ohio; Newark, NJ; and Detroit, Michigan.
To determine the most romantic yet affordable cities for celebrating the Day of Hearts, WalletHub compared 100 of the largest U.S. cities across 26 key metrics, ranging from florists per capita to forecasted precipitation to the cost of a three-course meal for two.
Spending
WalletHub also released its nationally representative 2023 Valentine’s Day Spending Survey, which found that more than 1 in 4 of Americans expect their Valentine to not spend any money on gifts this year.
Still, Americans collectively will spend $25.9 billion this year on Valentine’s day gifts — from greeting cards to jewelry to a special night out — with the average lovebird shelling out $193.
Valentine’s Day spending survey – key stats
—Some people anticipate smaller gifts. 23% of Americans expect their significant other to spend less on Valentine’s Day this year.
—Dinner may be too expensive. 36% people say that going out to dinner on Valentine’s Day is a bad deal.
—V-Day debt is worth it for some people. Almost 1 in 5 Americans think a Valentine’s Day gift is worth going into credit card debt.
—Financial infidelity hurts. Over half (55%) of Americans feel that financial infidelity can be worse than cheating.
—Bad credit might keep you single. Around half of Americans would not marry someone with a bad WalletScore or bad credit.
—Reckless spending leads to breakups. Half of Americans would break up with their significant other if they spent money irresponsibly.
—Paid dating apps are undesirable. 82% of Americans say paying for dating apps is not worth it in 2023.
—Bad spending habits stink. More than half of Americans say that irresponsible spending is a bigger turnoff than bad breath.
—$25.9 Billion: Total Valentine’s Day spending projected for 2023 ($192.80 per person celebrating).
—2X: Men will spend almost twice as much as women, on average, for Valentine’s Day 2023.
—$9.9 Billion: Amount Americans will spend on jewelry ($5.5B) and a special evening out ($4.4B).
—25%: Share of marriages that begin online.
—33%: Overall online dating activity increase across the U.S. between Feb. 1 and Feb.14.
—$28.3 Billion: Projected global dating services market size by 2027.
