As the Day of Disappointed Partners (Valentine’s Day) draws near, the brands are sending out all the “studies” they can, in hopes that someone sees a headline and thinks, “Sure, that’s a thing a person could write about.”
This year, it’s a tie between Oregon is the least romantic state in America from Bookies.com and Portland is the fifth-best city for Valentine’s Day from WalletHub.
Portland is, you may be aware, the largest city in our state by a long shot, and half of the state’s entire population lives in the greater Portland area. So, how could these two things be true at the same time?
Let’s go to the data, also known as “data.”
Bookies.com, a sports betting resource website, used Google Trends to compile their list. They looked back at the years 2017 to 2022, looking at the number of times in the 30 days leading up to Valentine’s Day each year, people in each state googled “Valentine’s Day.”
Oregon, on average, was dead last. Why? Could it be we hate Valentine’s Day? Or maybe is that we all know which day Valentine’s Day is because it’s also the birthday of our great state? Or because it’s just a date that most people know?
Or maybe we don’t need to Google “Valentine’s Day” because we are all so creative, we don’t need someone else’s ideas for how to wow our romantic partners and our friends.
What is really suspicious about this so-called study is first place: West Virginia. Look, no hate to West Virginia but ... most romantic? We all know that regular Virginia “is for lovers,” but the motto of West Virginia is “Montani semper liberi,” which means “Mountaineers are always free.”
Rugged. Independent. But you can make the argument that obsession with freedom is sort of the opposite of romance. West Virginia is essentially saying, “Let me live, babe!” when you ask if he made any plans for dinner on Feb. 14.
So, what about WalletHub? Yes, the results are better for the home team, but the data sources are much more involved, so the study itself is objectively better.
WalletHub looked at 26 “key metrics” instead of one Google search term. Those include the cost of a three-course meal for two, restaurants, jewelry stores, chocolate and florists per capita and the percentage of residents who are fully vaccinated against COVID, which is a good metric if you’re thinking about getting cozy.
Portland may be no match for first place San Francisco, but in terms of activities, “gift accessibility” and budget, we hold our own. Maybe we can’t compete with second-place Seattle (wrong but moving on) or San Diego or Las Vegas, but we leave Scottsdale in the dust for Valentine’s Day.
But don’t worry Scottsdale! It could be worse than sixth place. Much worse. Just ask Detroit, 100 and, apparently, the worst city in America for Valentine’s Day.
— Lizzy Acker
503-221-8052; lacker@oregonian.com; @lizzzyacker
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