PHOENIX - Looking for a mate? Or just a date?
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No, it's nowhere like the situation in the old Beach Boys classic, ``Surf City,'' which supposedly had ``two girls for every boy.'' But new figures this morning from the U.S. Census Bureau show that only 47.4 percent of the Santa Cruz population is male.
Put another way, out of every group of 1,000 residents, 526 of them would be female.
Conversely, those in search of a man will find the pickings the best, at least from a math perspective, in Graham County. There, the odds are just about reversed.
The numbers come from the latest statistics about the population of the state and its counties. And while the overall numbers are not new, the breakdowns are.
One finding is that Arizona continues to become more of a Hispanic state.
The percentage of people as of July 1 who identify themselves as of Hispanic or Latino origin has hit 28.5 percent. That's up half a percentage point from a year earlier - and 3.3 points higher than when the decennial census was conducted in 2000.
Overall, the state is pretty evenly divided by gender, with 2,973,074 males and 2,966,218. But the figures are not as simple as all that.
A lot of it depends on age.
The news is good for women in the 18-24 age group, where men outnumber women by more than 21,000.
At the other end of the spectrum, though, the chances of being pursued fall to the men, with 81,395 more women age 65 and older than men. That is not surprising given that women tend to live longer.
That statistic also shows up in another way: The median age of males in Arizona is 33.3; for women it is 35.5.
So where should women of retirement age look for men?
If you believe the Census Bureau, La Paz County. In fact, men still outnumber women even among those 65 and older.
Men of that age, however, should gravitate to the state's largest metro areas. The ratio of women to men is highest in Pima and Maricopa counties.
And what if you're younger?
The best place to be an 18 to 24-year-old male is Coconino County, where women of that age group outnumber men by 811. But women of the same age would do much better looking for dates in Graham County.
None of this, of course, automatically translates into finding someone to share a soda, a movie or a bed.
The Census Bureau report does not show how many of these people are married. Nor does the federal agency suggest where to meet singles - or even a good pickup line.
Population 65+ by sex
Area / Male / Female
Statewide / 338,393 / 419,788
Apache / 3,040 / 3,684
Cochise / 9,545 / 10,698
Coconino / 4,451 / 5,027
Gila / 4,967 / 5,834
Graham / 1,882 / 2,322
Greenlee / 408 / 433
La Paz / 2,985 / 2,875
Maricopa / 176,027 / 227,026
Mohave / 18,622 / 20,302
Navajo / 5,526 / 6,409
Pima / 57,620 / 75,024
Pinal / 15,837 / 17,469
Santa Cruz / 2,182 / 2,715
Yavapai / 20,174 / 23,482
Yuma / 15,127 / 16,488
- Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Population estimates by sex
Area / Male / Female
Statewide / 2,973,074 / 2,966,218
Apache / 34,141 / 35,202
Cochise / 62,934 / 63,172
Coconino / 61,641 / 62,225
Gila / 25,282 / 26,381
Graham / 17,588 / 15,475
Greenlee / 3,918 / 3,603
La Paz / 10,250 / 9,988
Maricopa / 1,829,380 / 1,806,148
Mohave / 92,384 / 94,816
Navajo / 53,659 / 54,773
Pima / 452,579 / 472,207
Pinal / 121,151 / 108,398
Santa Cruz / 19,930 / 22,079
Yavapai / 97,693 / 101,008
Yuma / 90,544 / 90,733
- Source: U.S. Census Bureau
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