Single in the City: Does Carmel have a hot dating scene?

When DatingAdvice.com named Carmel among the "15 Best Small Cities for Singles" earlier this year, I was more than a little skeptical.

Carmel landed at No. 11, according to the site, because it offers "all the perks of a big city and the fuzzy feelings of home." And it supposedly has 31,793 single people.

Could Carmel really have 31,793 single people? Did DatingAdvice.com include toddlers in its count?

I've lived in Carmel since 2013, and I've never noticed herds of single people roaming around. Carmel's ranking made me worry that nearly 32,000 people have been hiding from me for two years, or that I've missed out on some sort of secret singles society.

So I planned a night out in Carmel to investigate.

I tried to pick bars that would attract singles. I chose The Pint Room and Brockway Pub because they are two of my favorites, and they happen to be among the top-rated Carmel bars on Yelp, so other people must like them, too. And they're in presumably prime single-people locations. The Pint Room is on Main Street in the middle of downtown Carmel, nestled among shops, restaurants and apartments. Brockway Pub is in a popular retail and restaurant corridor along U.S. 31. It's near two apartment complexes that tend to attract young people, Providence at Old Meridian and Penn Circle.

I started my search for Carmel singles at The Pint Room around 8:30 on a Friday. The place was bustling, but based on my quick scan for wedding rings, about 90 percent of the people in the bar appeared to be taken.

I zeroed in on a group of eight men on one side of the bar and went over to start a conversation. Of the eight, two were single, a third was engaged, and the rest were married. They had met while getting their MBAs, and they were out celebrating the departure of one of the single men. He was moving to California to pursue a job opportunity. (It figures.) The single man staying behind was Patrick Doumas, a 30-year-old who lives in Indianapolis and says he has never had much luck finding women in Carmel.

He and his MBA buddies used to go out in Carmel regularly. On a typical night out, he estimated that only 25 to 30 percent of the bar crowd is single. At Indianapolis bars, the percentage jumps to about 50, he said.

And if there are single people out in Carmel, they aren't always in Doumas' target dating demographic.

"I would say probably half of the single women I've seen here are recent divorcees," Doumas said. "It's better for older singles."

I moved on to another table across the bar where two women were sitting. "Broad Ripple is the place to go when you're single," said Suzanne Wolf, 28. "Carmel is where you go when you're ready to settle down with somebody."

Wolf said she moved to Carmel from Indianapolis right before her wedding about a year and a half ago. She met her husband while they were both coaching in a volleyball program in Zionsville.

Wolf's friend, Heather Lyon, lives in Indianapolis with her boyfriend. But, the two are moving to a downtown Carmel apartment in June. They both work in Indianapolis and met at a gym in the Broad Ripple area, but they're relocating to Carmel because of its burgeoning downtown and its reputation for safety.

Lyon, 29, admitted she has never tried to look for single people in Carmel, but thinks it would be a good place to meet "quality" singles.

"You move here because you've got your stuff together," Lyon said.

Wolf agreed it could be a good place to meet singles, "if you know where to go."

So I moved on to the next stop: Brockway Pub.

That's where I met an older man who was out celebrating becoming a grandfather for the first time.

The bar was filled with couples, and a band was playing near the front entrance. Most of the couples appeared to be over 40, but one couple was making out like teenagers. Two single, 23-year-old men were enjoying growlers of beer. They said they both had some success finding women, but that many of the single people who go out in Carmel seem older.

Ironically, Grandpa and his friends kept interrupting the interview. They told me to stop wasting my time with the 23-year-olds and talk to their group instead.

I tried to explain that I was interviewing the men, but that didn't seem to make a difference. Eventually, they wandered away, hopefully with the help of a designated driver.

I drove home around 11:30, and the streets were mostly empty, lending credibility to another complaint I had heard all night: Carmel lacks late-night spots. (Most bars close around 1 a.m. on the weekends.)

Truthfully, I was surprised by how few single people were out in Carmel.

In the city's defense, it was bitterly cold, and Netflix had just released the third season of "House of Cards." But still, even I had expected more.

Maybe single people just don't go to Carmel bars.

Maybe they are turned off by Carmel's lack of nightlife.

Or Carmel's suburban reputation.

Or the creepy statues downtown (even some of those are couples, by the way).

I'm not sure DatingAdvice.com's "15 Best Small Cities for Singles" rankings are accurate — I asked them to explain how they calculated the number of singles, and they haven't responded to my request — but I will say this: If you're single, you might want to avoid Meridian, Idaho; Rockville, Md.; Pleasanton, Calif.; and St. George, Utah. They all ranked lower on the list than Carmel.

Follow Carrie on Twitter: @CarrieRitchie.