Roses are red, violets are blue, and if you’re dating in Brisbane or Sydney… well, good luck to you. We’re not here to break any hearts, but Time Out’s 2025 Best Cities in the World survey has some bad news – these two Aussie capitals rank among the world’s ten worst places to find love. Single and ready to mingle? We’ve also got the stats on the best cities for romance – just don’t expect to find any in Australia.
As part of Time Out’s major annual best cities survey, we asked more than 18,500 city-dwellers about their dating life. We specifically wanted to know whether locals think finding love in their city is a battle or a breeze.
Things aren’t looking too rosy for Brisbane singles, with Australia’s third-most populous city ranking as the seventh worst place for finding love (tying with London). Only 28 per cent of Brisbane locals said they think it’s easy to meet a soulmate, leaving the other 72 per cent navigating the dating scene with little luck.
Sydneysiders shared a similar outlook, with 29 per cent agreeing that dating in the Harbour City is difficult. This earned Sydney the unfortunate title of the ninth worst city in the world for finding love. At least that’s almost double the measly 14 per cent of locals in Bilbao, Spain, which ranked as the absolute worst city for romance.
On the flip side, Mumbai topped the list as the world's best city for dating, with 72 per cent of locals saying it’s easy to couple up. Beijing followed in second, followed by Jakarta in third, Shanghai in fourth and Medellín in fifth. You can check out the full results from Time Out’s global survey below.
The 10 worst cities for finding love, according to locals:
1. Bilbao, Spain: 14 per cent
2. Tokyo, Japan: 21 per cent
3. Hong Kong: 23 per cent
4. Marseille, France: 25 per cent
5. Los Angeles, USA: 26 per cent
= New York City, USA: 26 per cent
7. Brisbane, Australia: 28 per cent
= London, UK: 28 per cent
9. Sydney, Australia: 29 per cent
10. Vienna, Austria: 31 per cent
The 10 best cities for finding love, according to locals:
1. Mumbai, India: 72 per cent
2. Beijing, China: 69 per cent
3. Jakarta, Indonesia: 66 per cent
4. Shanghai, China: 65 per cent
5. Medellín, Colombia: 64 per cent
6. Abu Dhabi, UAE: 63 per cent
7. New Orleans, USA: 56 per cent
= Amsterdam, Netherlands: 56 per cent
9. Bangkok, Thailand: 54 per cent
10. Cape Town, South Africa: 53 per cent