Yahoo! recently featured an article about the best cities for singles from Travel + Leisure. Why do I like this so much? No, not for that reason, I’m already married. The reason is because it’s right in line with a survey Coldwell Banker  just conducted among single homeowners.

If you haven’t heard the news, there is an increasing amount of singles looking to buy homes before tying the knot. According to a recent report from the National Association of Realtors, single women made up for 21 percent of recent home buyers in 2009 and single men accounted for 10 percent (compared with 15 percent and 7 percent, respectively, back in 2001.)

Coldwell Banker reached out to 1,000 single homeowners to learn more about this subgroup of buyers, and discovered that the majority (52 percent) actually chose suburbia over urban or rural areas. So if you’re going to be a single in the suburbs (or a city dweller, for that matter) what are best metro-areas for you to live? Travel + Leisure readers rated urban areas on culture, hotels, weather, and even how good-looking the locals are, and the following areas came out on top:

1. New Orleans
2. Miami
3. Austin
4. New York
5. Las Vegas
6. Chicago
7. Nashville
8. Houston
9. San Francisco
10. Providence

We reached out to Mark Inman of Coldwell Banker TEC in the No. 1 hot spot, New Orleans, for his perspective. “New Orleans is a fun city, particularly if you’re young,” he said. You have more entertainment, music and nightlife opportunities than many cities can offer. You can pretty much find something going on every night of the week, but there is also a very laidback lifestyle here.”

Inman also noted that New Orleans is pretty affordable, and that the prices have remained relatively stable over the years. Plus they have exceptionally great coffee and beignets down there.

For more information on the Coldwell Banker study among single homeowners, click here.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user David Paul Ohmer