Austin, Texas—it’s home to world-class BBQ, live music venues, outdoor activities, and festivals. But according to one woman, the most populous city in Travis County is also a really bad place to date.
Sofia Lily Fernandez (@yourgirl_sof) took to TikTok to share tales of her dating woes in the city.
“Have y’all seen that trend, where it’s like, ‘It’s not my fault I’m single. It’s where I live?” asks Sofia at the start of her TikTok, which over 12,000 people have watched.
She continues saying, “I’ve seen a bunch of people putting Austin, and that is so valid.”
She then launches into a list of egregious and unacceptable behavior on the part of her dates.
A Series Of Bad Dates
“I had a TikTok influencer that was famous bite me,” she says.
Then there was the time she got taken to “Emo Night” on Dirty 6th, and her date didn’t even have the manners to buy her a drink. “This man pulls up in guyliner and, like, all in black,[…] then this man proceeds to not buy me anything.”
Finally, he ditched Sofia to go mosh.
But perhaps the most psychiatric of her recent(ish) dates is the guy who told her she was both boring and funny while he used her as a stand-in for a therapist.
“I had a guy tell me that he literally was still pining over his ex who does OnlyFans,” she says.
He then told her that he was looking for something the “opposite of that,” but “he kind of kept her hidden,” she says. “He kind of used me as a therapist the entire date.”
The upside? He did take her to a really nice spot in Austin and paid.
What Do Other Austinites Say?
Viewers definitely agreed with Sofia’s assessment on dating in Austin.
“Dating in Austin is not for the weak,” one commented.
Another said, “Yea … Austin is full of tech bros and wannabe influencers. The transplants only make it worse. Ah and they’re like in their thirties using pictures from their twenties talkin about… ‘I’m just trying to figure out what I want…’ [big-eye emoji] Boy, bye. [triple cry-laughing emoji].”
Another commenter, Jordan O’Neal, suggested that Austinites need a new app, but something less about dating and “more of a support group” for people scorned by the dating scene.
What Do The Stats Say?
While viewers seemed to be in consensus—dating in Austin is not for the weak—WalletHub ranked the city pretty high on its list of best cities for singles. The city ranked No. 10 out of 182. WalletHub took into account several factors when compiling the list.
“The best cities for singles have large, gender-balanced single populations, along with a wide variety of indoor and outdoor, daytime and nighttime activities. They also have reasonable prices for dating activities or high average incomes to help ease the sting of inflation,” Chris Lupo, a WalletHub analyst, said.
However, this ranking made no mention of city culture. It could just be that Austin is pretty transient in nature, and its short-term young residents aren’t ready to settle down. According to KVUE, Match.com also found in 2018 that Austin men were “the worst behaved singles in America,” with a penchant for ghosting.
“Austin men are 400 percent more likely to breadcrumb a lady, 549 percent more likely to ghost and 297 percent more likely to come back into someone’s life as a zombie,” KVUE reported of Match.com’s findings.
Yikes.
Here’s wishing Sofia better dates ahead… or at least some consolation brisket.
BroBible has reached out to Sophia to see how things are going in Austin. We’ll update the story as we get news.
@yourgirl_sof Dating in Austin, TX is actually horrible #austintx