You're probably really close to finding your honey in the Beehive State.
A new study out of Michigan State University ranked Utah as the second-best state to find love. It trailed only Mississippi in the rankings, but sat above Wisconsin, Vermont and Alaska within the top five, according to a press release on the study.
Meanwhile, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Kansas, Kentucky and North Dakota finished at the bottom of the list, according to the study, which was published in the Journal of Research in Personality.
Surprisingly, New York — the cliche spot to meet your soul mate, per romance novels and cheesy rom-coms — placed near the bottom of the list.
William Chopik, an assistant professor at MSU and co-author of the study, told “Today” that location matters more than anything else when trying to find love. Your environment can inspire you to find your soul mate, he said.
“When I think of New York, I think of the anxious Woody Allen type, and New York had one of the highest scores for attachment anxiety,” Chopik said in a press release. “California, on the other hand, seems like a romantic place with beautiful sunsets, oceans and warm weather. And Utah residents are known to be very nice, warm and generous, which many people attribute to the large Mormon population.”
Researchers surveyed 127,000 adults from across the country. Researchers asked about attachment anxiety — if they ever felt their partners were clingy or were worried about their relationship's standing. They also asked people about how they felt about their partner, specifically whether or not they wanted to avoid them.
States that ranked higher on the list had more positive outlooks on relationships, according to “Today.” Those with lower levels of anxiety and relationship avoidance were labeled as better for finding love.
Chopik said the study doesn't mean people should flee to North Dakota or Vermont to find love. Love can be found anywhere, he said.
“We do not recommend changing all of the affectionate mottos used to describe places or finally moving out of North Dakota," the press release said. "To a certain degree, positive relationships are found everywhere and transcend time and place. After all, home is where the heart is.”