Late to the thread, but I would say that I found dating very difficult in the central IL area. It seemed like a black hole for finding single women in their mid-to-upper 20's who were attractive, thin-to-average shape, intelligent, not super-religious, and without kids. I looked fruitlessly for a few years but eventually gave up and ended up in a long-distance relation with someone not from the area (eventually marrying them). Girls I talked to in other areas always seemed surprised that I was single...they just don't realize what a dating desert this place is.
Not sure why this area sucks so much for dating, but my theories are that there's an imbalance here of intelligent males (thanks to Cat's imported engineers) versus intelligent females, and also that many of the desirable females around here seem to be in long-term relationships at a younger-than-average age, meaning a smaller candidate female pool.
