Despite surging home prices across the US, it's still possible to snag something affordable in a great city.

As evidenced by U.S. News & World Report's latest ranking of the best places to live in America, the top cities for settling down tout a strong job market, low cost of living, high quality of life, and affordable housing to boot.

To find out which of the top-50 best places to live have home costs on par with the national median listing price, we filtered the ranking for cities where the median home costs $250,000 or less.

Below, check out the top-25 cities and their median home prices.

SEE ALSO: The 50 best places to live in America

DON'T MISS: Home prices are soaring — here's how much the average home costs in the 15 most popular big cities

25. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Population: 1,318,408

Median home price: $149,646

Quality of life: 6.1

Value: 7.5

Oklahoma City's warm weather and low housing prices make it an up-and-coming place to live. Due to a recent inundation of millennials, the city now brims with energy, creativity, and new ideas, according to a local expert.

"The community's greatest asset is its people," he said. "The community is tight-knit, willing to offer a friendly hello, and ever aware that their city is really a small town at heart."

24. Tampa, Florida

Population: 2,888,458

Median home price: $170,495

Quality of life: 6.6

Value: 5

Tampa's laid-back atmosphere, warm weather, and barrage of entertainment options make it feel like a trip to paradise. "Living in the Tampa Bay is like being on vacation all year," said a local expert.

Tampa hasn't been overtaken by tourists, however. It retains several niche communities, including a strong Cuban influence in historic Ybor City, formerly known as the "cigar capital of the world."

23. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Population: 558,198

Median home price: $83,500

Quality of life: 7.1

Value: 7.5

Located on the banks of the Susquehanna River and the foothills of the Appalachian Trail, Harrisburg offers residents unlimited access to the outdoors. Many are employed by the state and federal government in Harrisburg, but there's also several large private-sector companies that are top employers, including Hershey's, Rite Aid, and D&H Distributing.

Relationships come in all sizes and colors — there are romantic relationships, work relationships, and friendships, just to name a few. 

Regardless of what kind of relationship you want to strengthen, each is fundamentally similar to the next in a number of ways.

In all healthy relationships, we are able to listen well, empathize, connect, resolve conflict, and respect others.

The following TED Talks are a great refresher course in doing all that. 

SEE ALSO: A relationship expert explains how successful couples handle their biggest fights

Mandy Len Catron's 'Falling in love is the easy part'

Can you make people fall in love? Twenty years ago, psychologists believed they may have done just that. In their experiment, psychologists had study participants — one heterosexual man and one heterosexual woman — sit face to face and answer 36 increasingly personal questions and then stare silently into each other's eyes for four minutes. Six months later, two of the study participants were married.

"Hoping there was a way to love smarter," writer Mandy Len Catron explored this question in her popular New York Times article, "To Fall in Love With Anyone, Do This," where she chronicles her own experience simulating the experiment and that she did, in fact, fall in love with her partner.

In her TED Talk, Catron explains that the questions, while they may not be entirely responsible for her falling in love, do provide an efficient way for getting to know someone quickly, generating trust, and creating intimacy.

But, more importantly, she says that falling in love is far from the whole story when it comes to loving someone and explains what comes next.

Andrew Solomon's 'Love, no matter what'

Through interviewing parents of exceptional children for several years, the author of "Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity" says he has come to understand that everyone is different in some fundamental way, and this core human condition of being different is, ironically, what unites us all.

Solomon explains that all people who love each other struggle to accept each other and grapple with the question, "What's the line between unconditional love and unconditional acceptance?"

Using a number of poignant anecdotes, he helps unpack this question.

Yann Dall'Aglio's 'Love — you're doing it wrong'

Dall'Aglio, a French philosopher and author of "A Rolex at 50: Do you have the right to miss your life?" and "I love you: Is love a has been?," says love is the desire of being desired. But in a world that often favors the self over others, how can people find the tenderness and connection they crave?

It may be easier than you think: "For a couple who is no longer sustained, supportedby the constraints of tradition, I believe that self-mockeryis one of the best means for the relationship to endure," he says.

In this surprisingly convincing talk, Dall'Aglio explains how acknowledging our uselessness could be the key to sustaining healthy relationships.

As evidence that high-end retail has lost its footing continues to mount — from companies pivoting out of luxury to a crisis in the Swiss watch market — there is at least one bright spot to be found: pre-owned.

No longer looked at with disdain, the pre-owned market is growing in both dollars and prevalence.

"There's been a major shift here over the last four to five years where people really understand value in a different way," Alexis Clarbour, director of pioneer luxury accessory consignment website Portero.com, told Business Insider. 

Clarbour says that her customers are now seeing beyond the original purchase and considering how the value of the item will hold up if they decide to resell it. These customers aren't seeking thrift-store bargains, either. They're true luxury seekers — the average sale price on Portero, for example is $2,200, and its most popular brand is Hermès. 

Watches are also seeing a major shift to vintage and pre-owned.

"For the same reason a consumer chooses to buy a certified pre-owned car, they also desire to purchase a certified pre-owned watch since it's a smarter, more financially beneficial way of buying luxury," said Hamilton Powell, founder of luxury vintage and pre-owned watch consignment site Crown & Caliber.

The information available on the internet is perhaps the biggest factor for resale websites. As it becomes easier for customers to educate themselves about items like handbags, watches, and sneakers, they seek a greater value for their dollar in the luxury space. And they'd rather not be bothered by pushy salespeople in boutiques, as these savvy customers already know what they want and what it's worth.

"Today's consumers are smarter than ever due to the vast amount of information at their fingertips provided through the Internet," Powell said.

Powell says education is "the reason for the rise in pre-owned," but adds that the "result is an iconic, classic suave look" akin to the days of Cary Grant and Don Draper.

This education means it's easier than ever for customers to become enthusiasts.

Another category — sneakers — has also seen more attention. Venture capital firm Forerunner Ventures, which invested in Birchbox, Bonobos, and Dollar Shave Club, recently made an investment in sneaker consignment store Stadium Goods. It was the firm's first investment in a consignment company. Sneakers are not considered a luxury category traditionally, but they can have luxury-level prices at resale to fanatical consumers.

"The whole ecosystem is going through a lot of change," Kirsten Green, Forerunner's founder, told Business Insider. "A lot of sneaker-buying was happening in malls. And people's shopping patterns are changing away from malls."

It's also removing the barrier that traditionally separates customers from shopping pre-owned luxury: fear of fakes. Websites like Portero and Crown & Caliber both offer 100% authenticity guarantees, and they sell products in as good condition as possible while preserving that.

"Given the growth of the online jewelry/watch segment, we believe consumers are getting more comfortable with buying online rather than from a brick-and-mortar establishment," Powell said, noting that sales for 2016 increased by 70% when compared year over year.

Clarbour said she's seeing a similar phenomenon, adding that it's her website's reputation that makes customers feel safe.

"If we were known to sell inauthentic goods, we would've been put out of business by now," Clarbour said of Portero, which was founded in 2004.

Choice is another benefit of pre-owned luxury items, Clarbour says. If you walk into a boutique, they will only have the brand's latest offerings, but online there's the entire history of the company to choose from, including hard-to-find items like the Hermès Birkin bag.

"It's not like when you go into a boutique and you have a salesperson bossing you around, putting pressure on you," Clarbour said.

Most of the luxury items sold on eBay are new, but the auction site is also implicated in this attitude shift. It's releasing an expanded authentication program called eBay Authenticate later this year, in an effort to court these luxury pre-owned customers. 

SEE ALSO: Athleisure is not just a trend — it's a fundamental shift in how Americans dress

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NOW WATCH: Here's how a sneaker collector made 6 figures buying and reselling rare and limited release kicks

• Average home prices fell in the Hamptons in 2016.
• Meanwhile, further north in the Hudson Valley, the luxury home market is moving quickly.
• Some wealthy people are trading their Hamptons mansions for rustic homes in the Hudson Valley and the Catskills. 
• Tourism to the area is also booming.

The Hamptons have long been a weekend playground for New York City's wealthiest and most fashionable. 

But thanks to a softening real estate market and the growing appeal of more affordable destinations, that could be about to change. 

The various hamlets of Long Island's East End are certainly still a haven for celebrities and Wall Streeters, as well as an older set of travelers, but there are some signs that the attention of potential second-home buyers could be shifting north.

Collapsing prices in the Hamptons

The Hamptons have a tony reputation for a reason. Though each of its hamlets has its own unique flavor, the Hamptons are known for their large, shingle-style homes with ocean views and proximity to fundraisers and other events wealthy neighbors throw throughout the summer. Finance professionals have long chosen to buy second homes here. 

And while the Hamptons will continue to be a destination for a particular kind of home buyer, the housing market endured a slight slump in 2016, which some have attributed to the falling profits, bonuses, and headcounts seen on Wall Street last year. 

The end of 2016 was particularly challenging for the Hamptons luxury real estate market, according to several different brokerages who released reports after the fourth quarter came to a close. Data from luxury real estate company Brown Harris Stevens showed that average home prices had fallen by 23.1% in the fourth quarter year-over-year. 

"This was really due to the election," Aspasia Comnas, executive managing director of Brown Harris Stevens of the Hamptons, told Business Insider. "We're a secondary home market, and if our buyers or sellers feel at all uncertain about what their economic future will look like (and with a change in administration, there was no way but for there to be a change in the economy), buyers and sellers hold back." 

At the luxury end of the Hamptons market, the median sales price fell 29.5%, to $5.85 million, year-on-year, according to real-estate appraisal firm Miller Samuel. But this did not deter developers from putting more homes up for sale, as inventory increased 21% in the same period.

"Activity started picking up again in December and in January, so I'm guessing the market is making a recovery," Comnas said. 

Another report from Brown Harris Stevens showed that the number of sales that closed in all of 2016 was down 7.3% compared to 2015. Total dollar volume dipped 11.5% to $3.57 billion.

An alternative destination on the rise

While the luxury market in the Hamptons does appear to be softening, another destination with easy access to New York City has been growing in popularity. 

The Hudson Valley is often broadly defined as the area stretching north from New York City along the Hudson River to Albany. Divided into three regions — lower, mid, and upper — the Hudson Valley is known for its charming towns, old-money estates, and proximity to the Catskill Mountains. Metro-North and Amtrak trains provide relatively easy access to these communities, each of which has their own unique personalities.

According to a fourth-quarter report from Heather Croner Real Estate of Sotheby's, Hudson Valley's luxury real estate market accelerated significantly at the end of 2016. Though median prices remained steady at around $1 million, the rate at which properties changed hands grew rapidly through the second half of the year. 

"We're cautiously optimistic that the momentum generated in the second half of the year will carry forward into 2017," the report reads. 

"The fourth quarter was very busy, and this quarter is too," Heather Croner told Business Insider.

Entrepreneurs and Wall Streeters seem to be catching on.

Richard Ellis, owner of Ellis Sotheby's International Realty in Nyack, New York, said that he has witnessed a growing trend of New Yorkers buying property in the Hudson Valley over the last few years. Many vacation home buyers he has done business with work in finance, have their primary residences in Downtown Manhattan or Brooklyn, and are in their mid-30s to 50s. 

He has even worked with some clients who were specifically looking to trade in their Hamptons home for a quieter spot in the Hudson Valley.

"The lower Hudson Valley is certainly easier to get to than the Hamptons," Ellis told Business Insider. "People who buy on our side of the river are not 'keeping up the Joneses,' so to speak. They're looking to impress themselves, not others."

The buyers he works with value the proximity to Manhattan, outdoor activities, and stunning landscape that the Hudson Valley offers. Snedens Landing, a community in the Palisades on the west side of the Hudson River, has long attracted creative types, including celebrities like Bill Murray and Al Pacino.

Dennis Crowley, co-founder and executive chairman of Foursquare, recently bought a second home in Kingston, located on the east side of the river in the mid-Hudson Valley. He even decided to start a semi-pro soccer team in the area, called Stockade FC. 

"The Hudson Valley is a special place — it's got everything that NYC is missing (grass! space! quiet!) with pockets of crazy energy and entrepreneurial spirit," he told Business Insider. "Once we started spending a lot of time up there, we started realizing how many other friends of ours were also in the process of finding a way to call the Hudson Valley home, at least part-time."

"In Kingston, we've found friends within the strong community of makers and do'ers — some who work in tech, some who are writers and artists, some who have opened small shops or other local business — and many of these folks were involved in helping us build Kingston Stockade FC."

Younger travelers are making their way north, too 

Taken as a whole, the newest generation of travelers seem to value real-life experiences over luxury goods. And with lots of space to hike and interact with nature, the Catskills and Hudson Valley could be attracting adventure-seeking tourists on that point alone. 

According to an analysis by vacation rental site HomeAway, New York City-based travelers are becoming more and more interested in the Hudson Valley as a vacation destination. Searches of rentable properties in the Hudson Valley by New Yorkers grew 121% between 2015 and 2016, according to HomeAway's analysis.

In comparison, search inquiries of the Hamptons grew just 35% in the same period, though the Hamptons continue to be more popular overall.

Location-intelligence company Foursquare analyzed weekend foot traffic and came to a similar conclusion, though it focused its study specifically on young travelers. According to the findings, which were first reported in Yahoo Finance, New York-based travelers between the ages of 20 and 24 "increased their trips to the Hudson Valley and Catskills by nearly 55% in the summer of 2016 compared to the same time in 2012. During that same period, this same group decreased excursions to the Hamptons by nearly 46%."

New Yorkers venturing to the Hudson Valley and the Catskills can take advantage of a wide range of activities, from hiking in the Mohonk Preserve, to touring the art galleries of Kingston, to exploring the old-money estates where the Vanderbilts and Roosevelts once lived in Hyde Park. 

Plus, the close proximity of the Culinary Institute of America means that there are plenty of excellent restaurants — many of which place an emphasis on farm-to-table ingredients — for both visitors and new second-home owners to enjoy. The towns of Hudson and Rhinebeck are especially popular destinations with the foodie crowd. 

SEE ALSO: The 10 best places for a power breakfast in New York City

DON'T MISS: Here's how Brexit and Trump have already affected the travel industry, according to the president of Hotels.com

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NOW WATCH: What it's like to take the 'Uber of seaplanes' from NYC to the Hamptons

Stars came out for the 59th annual Grammy Awards Sunday night in Los Angeles. 

The Grammys are always an interesting red carpet, since they're not as formal as other awards shows like the Oscars, and 2017 is no exception. Cutouts are a popular trend this year, and there's also a dress seemingly made out of a ball pit. 

Keep reading to see the best looks from musicians and celebrities including Adele, Katy Perry, Nick Jonas, and more.

SEE ALSO: The 27 best looks from the SAG awards

Adele

Katy Perry

Lea Michele

WalletHub compared all 50 states across 11 total metrics grouped by category. The states were graded on a weighted 100-point scale, with 100 being the highest possible points.

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For many, Valentine's Day can be an unwelcome holiday full of heart-eyed lovebirds busy rubbing in the fact that they're paired off.

But for the millions of single people out there, there's something key to remember this week: Happiness can also be found in the non-romantic relationships in their lives.

To explain how being single can have a major impact on your health and happiness, Happify, a website and app that uses science-based interactive activities aimed at increasing your happiness, made this graphic. 

SEE ALSO: 15 science-backed tips to get someone to fall in love with you

DON'T MISS: Science says couples in lasting relationships typically wait this long to start having sex

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The simplest way to get — and stay — happy, according to psychologists

Chase F. Robinson, an historian on Islam, author of "Islamic Civilization in Thirty Lives," and president of the CUNY Graduate Center, explains the greatest misconception that people, specifically in the West, have about Muslims.

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

I think there are a number of misconceptions about Islam. Maybe of all of the misconceptions, the greatest is that there’s a set of prescriptions, or a set of doctrines, even dogmas, that necessarily incline Muslims to take specific positions on politics.

So a good example would be sharia, or Islamic law. There’s an enormous diversity of views on the part of those 1.6 or 1.7 billion Muslims about sharia.  Some hold that it must be imposed, many hold that it need not. A good example would be in Azerbaijan where only 1 out of 10 Muslims believe that sharia should be imposed, whereas in Afghanistan it’s 9 out of 10.

Muslims also disagree about the fundamentals of sharia. Is it about politics? Is it about ritual? Is it about personal law? Muslims also disagree, great diversity of views, about whether or not sharia applies to non-Muslims.

So of the many misconceptions that I think govern the West, especially, I think a certain assumption about fixed Muslim attitudes towards the law and towards politics, that’s perhaps the most important.

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Perched on a promontory overlooking Los Angeles is a true Beverly Hills palace. The crown jewel of the exclusive Trousdale Estates neighborhood, the property once belonged to comedian Danny Thomas, who starred in "The Danny Thomas Show" (aka "Make Room For Daddy") and founded St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Thomas built the home in 1970 and later sold it for $15 million after his wife died in 2000. 

Now it's finally off the market, having found a buyer in investor Evan Metropoulos for $65 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. The home had originally been listed for $135 million in 2015 by agent Aaron Kirman, who previously sold a neighboring property to Minecraft inventor Markus Persson for $70 million in 2014. 

Metropoulos is a principal at investment firm Metropoulos & Co., as is his brother, Daren, who bought the Playboy Mansion for $100 million last year.

Brittany Fowler contributed reporting on an earlier version of this article.

SEE ALSO: Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz reportedly bought a $40 million glassy penthouse in New York

The 18,000-square-foot mansion sits on two-and-a-half acres in Beverly Hills' swanky Trousdale Estates neighborhood, which is also home to celebrities like Elton John and Jane Fonda.

It's one of the most expensive homes ever sold in Beverly Hills.

Let's take a look inside to see what $65 million gets you. Feel free to park your car on the motor court — it fits 20 cars.

The week leading up to Valentine's Day is typically one of the busiest for online dating services— meaning if you're signing up or logging on in the next few days, it'll be harder than ever to stand out. 

Lucky for you, there's a simple — and painfully obvious — way to keep from blending into the crowd: Put more time and effort into filling out your profile. 

Data from PlentyofFish reveals that users spend about 10 minutes creating their profile, on average — but those who spend about 20 minutes are twice as likely to leave the site in a relationship.

What's more, POF users who add detail and photos to their profile are four times more likely to meet someone on the site than users who have minimal detail and no pictures.

Detail could mean anything from the sports you like to the languages you speak. Recent research from POF found that users who indicate that they speak a second language receive significantly more messages. 

There are a number of potential reasons why bilingual people might be more appealing. But one likely reason, said POF data scientist Michael McDermott, is that these people seem more thoughtful and open because they're "willing to expose a lot" about themselves — specifically, the languages they speak. In turn, that makes them more attractive.

Think of it as a specific way to "put yourself out there" online.

Of course, that's not to say you should include your entire life history ("I was born at 3:07 p.m. on a cloudy Tuesday…") on your profile — being too wordy could also be a turnoff, as a blog post on eHarmony suggests. 

The idea is to give just enough detail about yourself so that other users have something to talk to you about — and perhaps more importantly, to give the impression that you're taking this dating thing seriously. 

It's all too easy to halfheartedly create a profile, so you can pretend to yourself that you're not really interested in dating. That way, if you don't get a lot of messages from attractive users, you can tell yourself it was because you never finished filling out your bio. 

Bottom line: Uploading a few selfies and indicating that you're from Los Angeles probably won't get you very far. The best way to boost your chances of meeting someone great is to convey why you're great, too.

SEE ALSO: 4 research-backed and expert tips to get the date you want — in time for Valentine's Day

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NOW WATCH: Here's why successful people tend to have more sex

From Google cofounder Sergey Brin's split from 23andMe founder Anne Wojcicki to SpaceX founder Elon Musk's second divorce from actress Talulah Riley, the separation of several high-powered couples could signal that extreme career success comes at the expense of relationship success.

But relationship experts say this doesn't always ring true. You can have a successful marriage and balance high-powered careers — it just takes work.

Dr. Michael McNulty, a master trainer from The Gottman Institute and founder of the Chicago Relationship Center, tells Business Insider that maintaining a marital friendship, romance, and intimacy, managing ongoing conflict that is inevitable in marriage, and creating and maintaining a meaningful relationship is more challenging for partners with successful careers because they have less time to do so.

He says these couples are at more risk when the connection to the career becomes primary, and the commitment to and trust in the relationship becomes questionable. "Having a spouse addicted to work can feel like as much of a betrayal as extramarital affair to the other spouse," McNulty says.

But as research psychologist and couples counselor John Gottman explains in his book "What Makes Love Last," 40 years of research shows that trust and commitment are crucial to holding relationships together. "When both partners have a strong commitment to a relationship, this leads to a strong sense of trust, which makes love last," McNulty explains.

Here's how some of the most successful married couples keep their relationships strong:

DON'T MISS: 12 chores small-business owners should pay someone else to do

SEE ALSO: Marriage under the spotlight — why successful people get divorced

They prioritize spending time together

Handel Group co-president and life coach Laurie Gerber says shared experiences are key.

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, for example, drew up a relationship agreement with his then-girlfriend and now-wife Priscilla Chan when she moved to Palo Alto, California, several years ago. In it, he agreed to take her on a date once a week and spend 100 minutes of alone time each week with her outside the office or his apartment.

McNulty says creating rituals can help. "Rituals are more formal ways of connecting and ensure spouses reserve time for one another or their families and make specific plans to do the things they want to do," he explains.

Whether it's a weekly date night or a trip for just the immediate family, he says busy, successful partners have to be more careful with their time to make sure they connect with one another and enjoy the things that define or give meaning to their relationships.

They outsource tedious chores

A number of power couples say they outsource household chores like grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, and cooking so they can spend more quality time together.

Laura Vanderkam,author of "I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time," previously told Business Insider that when determining whether you should outsource a task, you should ask yourself, "How much time does this task take?" and "How much do I hate it?" Another helpful method is figuring out the monetary value of your time and comparing that with the cost of the service.

If you make $45,000 annually and work 40 hours a week (that's 2,080 work hours a year), that means your time is potentially worth about $22 an hour ($45,000 divided by 2,080).

So if you really hate grocery shopping and you can outsource it to someone else for $20 an hour, you'd likely be better off outsourcing it.

Their time is spent doing good

Gerber says it also helps if power couples spend time doing things outside of the ego.

Last year Zuckerberg and Chan launched the philanthropic LLC the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative together, and Bill and Melinda Gates have overseen their own foundation together since 2000. 

"People dedicated to making the world better or with a spiritual side seem to have more chance of success in partnership because they aren't depending on external factors only to feel good," she says.

Dogs are adorable and friendly. Your dog is probably a member of your family — not just your "pet." 

I certainly sympathize.

My dog Goodwin, seen above surveying Brooklyn, sleeps in the same bed I do. He goes on vacation with my wife and me. He gets Christmas presents. He's a member of the family. 

And that means he gets hugged. If I'm being honest, he gets hugged every single day. And though it seems like he's okay with it — happy to be hugged, even! — it's entirely possible he's not such a fan. 

"A lot of dog professionals would agree that hugging a dog is non-ideal," dog cognition scientist Dr. Alexandra Horowitz told me in an interview earlier this year. "I've never seen a dog who — when you hug them — they stand up and wag their tail and they're so excited. They do something else. They deal with it, you know?"

The question of dog hugs has come up a lot in the past year. Headlines fought for both sides of the argument:

• "Let's Not Hug It Out With Our Dogs," NPR declared.
• "No, ‘science’ didn’t ‘prove’ that dogs hate hugs," The Washington Post fired back.
• "25 dogs who clearly love hugs," pushed back Mashable with its own "scientific" survey.

So, what's going on?

This all started with a weekly column in Psychology Today, called "Canine Corner," by Dr. Stanley Coren. It wasn't based on a study, or a new set of evidence — it was, as Coren described it to The Washington Post, "a set of casual observations." Coren's got a long history in dog science and psychology: He's written books on the subject, and he continues to pen a weekly column for Psychology Today that's focused on dogs. 

That said, as Coren himself points out, the column was based on observations and wasn't intended to have the same impact as a peer-reviewed study — the bare minimum for scientific evidence.

So, should you hug your dog? Even without a conclusive study, the answer continues to be probably not. 

"The reason we say they don't like being hugged is because of what they look like when you're hugging them," Horowitz told me. "They pin their ears back, they lick their lips (sort of air licking). Or they yawn, which is another stress behavior. Or they move to get away. Or they show this kind of whale-eye posture — you can see the whites of their eyes. They show behavior that's like, 'This is uncomfortable.'"

Or, as Horowitz succinctly put it: "Dogs are dealing with it."

So, as adult humans, we can limit our own impulse to hug dogs. Impulse control, however, is much harder when you're an infant. 

"Children like to give dogs hugs, and some dogs do not deal with it," Horowitz said. That's where problems can happen, like a normally calm dog attacking a child. 

"The child is right at dog-face level, and they could get a real bad injury by the dog snapping — a perfectly good dog," Horowitz added. "There's nothing wrong with the dog. You've done something they don't like. You're right there. They're growling. You're not listening. And they snap at you. And that could really injure a child."

That's just common sense, of course — you don't need to be an accomplished dog cognition researcher like Dr. Horowitz to realize that children should be taught limits when it comes to the family dog (or cat, or bird, or whatever). And when it comes to hugs, however hard it is to resist, limitations may be necessary.

Or, as Dr. Horowitz puts it: "We assume because it shows our love that the dog feels our love, but I think in that case we're probably wrong."

SEE ALSO: 7 weird dog behaviors and what they mean

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NOW WATCH: One of the best things you can do for your dog is brush its teeth — here’s why

More than half of Americans are single, according to a 2014 report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, a figure that's risen 13% since 1976.

And being single might have some surprising psychological benefits. 

Bella DePaulo, a social psychologist at the University of California at Santa Barbara, went through 814 studies of single and married people.

Here's what DePaulo found:

• Singles tended to be more self-reliant and motivated than people in a relationship.
• The single folks were also more likely to develop and grow as individuals, judging by how many goals they set for themselves and how much they'd learned about their personalities.
• On top of all that, singles showed an increased value of connections with parents, siblings, friends, and coworkers. "When people marry, they become more insular," said DePaulo in a press release.. 

DePaulo presented her review of the literature at an American Psychological Association conference in August 2016.

Although DePaulo research focuses on the benefits of being single, that doesn't mean that there aren't also benefits for being married. One of the possible benefits of marriage, for example, might include greater financial stability.

"More than ever, Americans can pursue the ways of living that work best for them. There is no blueprint for the good life," DePaulo said.

This is an updated version of an August 2016 story. 

SEE ALSO: 5 scientifically proven reasons it's better to be single

DON'T MISS: 8 psychological reasons someone might fall in love with you

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NOW WATCH: Research reveals why women cheat, but it's not why you think

Rents may be dropping slightly in several of America's largest cities, but it's always helpful to know what your money can get you.

Of course, your rent money will stretch a lot further in some cities than others. A one-bedroom apartment in New York City, for instance, goes for about $2,000 more than the same-sized apartment in Denver.

With the help of real-estate marketplace Zumper and its October national rent report, we've compiled a sampling of one-bedroom listings in the 20 most expensive markets in the US.

Each listing is within $100 of the respective city's median rental price.

SEE ALSO: Here's the income you need to comfortably pay rent on a 2-bedroom apartment in 15 of the largest US cities

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20. DENVER: For $1,300 a month, residents of this newly renovated apartment in a quiet residential neighborhood are close to several parks and shopping centers.

Rent: $1,300/month

Neighborhood: Speer

This apartment overflows with amenities, including everything from dark wood cabinets to stainless steel appliances to new flooring and lighting. 

19. ATLANTA: This spacious apartment goes for $1,295 a month and includes access to a fitness center, picnic area, and outdoor barbecue space.

Rent: $1,295/month

Neighborhood: Midtown

This pet-friendly apartment comes complete with a balcony, hardwood floors, a walk-in closet, and air conditioning to temper Atlanta's hot summers. The complex also offers a business center, garage parking, and a pool. 

18. MINNEAPOLIS: Located in the heart of Minneapolis, units in this complex start at $1,345 a month and sit close to walking trails along the West River Parkway and fine dining in Highland Park.

Rent: $1,345 to $1,495/month

Neighborhood: Hiawatha

Units at Parkway West captivate residents with an open layout, floor-to-ceiling windows, and a rooftop patio. 

For guys who worry about their graying hair, washing it all away would seem like a dream.

Just for Men, producer of coloring products to help men hide their gray hair, has come up with a product that claims to do just that: a shampoo that permanently gets rid of gray hairs.

It's called Just for Men ControlGX, and it works by gradually restoring pigment to gray hairs through repeated use. You can easily adjust your usage of the shampoo based on how much gray you want to get rid of. 

Here's the science behind it, according to the release:

It gradually restores pigment to gray hairs with each use. Control GX is able to deliver permanent gray reduction in a shampoo because the pigments are trapped inside layers of cleansing and conditioning molecules, like a sandwich. The pigment is only released when the shampoo is massaged into the hair, which breaks apart the sandwich structure and releases pigment into the hair.

A shampoo makes it easier for guys to treat their grays on a daily basis without having to worry about dyes and combs. Though the shampoo dyes the hairs permanently, those hairs will shed and new hairs will crop up gray, so repeated use is required to maintain the look.

It comes in both just shampoo and shampoo and conditioner 2-in-1 versions, though the usefulness of 2-in-1 shampoos in general is up for debate. It runs $8.49 for a five-ounce bottle.

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Watch just about any romantic comedy or talk to your haughtiest married friends and you'll see that single life is wrapped in stigma. As the stereotype goes, single people would be much better off if only they got married.

As New York University sociologist Eric Klinenberg writes in his book, "Going Solo," when discussed publicly, the rise of living alone is often presented as an unmitigated social problem and a sign of diminished public life.

But not everybody thinks this way.

In the US, people are getting hitched less often than they once did, and young Americans are putting off marriage more than ever before.

In 1962, half of 21-year-olds and 90% of 30-year-olds had been married at least once. In 2014, only 8% of 21-year-olds and 55% of 30-year-olds had been married.

Single Americans are now the majority.

"For decades social scientists have been worrying that our social connections are fraying, that we've become a society of lonely narcissists," Klinenberg tells The New York Times. "I'm not convinced."

And neither are a number of researchers. These studies begin to unpack the question of how being single affects your success, for worse or better:

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Single people could be missing out on some happiness

A recent study on marital satisfaction released by the National Bureau of Economic Research and previously reported on by Business Insider suggests that the happiest people are those who are married to their best friends. And, controlling for pre-marital happiness, the study concluded that, overall, marriage leads to increased well-being.

The authors concluded that partners can provide each other with a unique kind of social support and help each other overcome some of life's biggest challenges.

Single people tend to be more social

However, there are other social scenarios where singles are more likely to have the edge.

Research suggests that, compared to married people, Americans who have always been single are more likely to support and stay in touch with their family and are more likely to help, encourage, and socialize with friends and neighbors.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Time Use Survey, single Americans spend on average 12 minutes a day staying in touch with other people by calling, emailing, or sending mail to them. Married people spend on average 7.8 minutes a day keeping in touch.

Klinenberg explains that, despite extraordinary external pressure that can lead to self-doubt, being single doesn't condemn someone to a life of feeling lonely or isolated.

"On the contrary, the evidence suggests that people who live alone compensate by becoming more socially active than those who live with others, and that cities with high numbers of singletons enjoy a thriving public culture," he writes.

Single people tend to have more time to themselves

Klinenberg also believes that, in the age of expanding digital media and growing connectedness, being single offers a clear advantage: more restorative solitude.

More alone time helps people discover who they are and what gives their life meaning and purpose, he explains.

"Living alone helps us pursue sacred modern values — individual freedom, personal control, and self-realization — whose significance endures from adolescence to our final days," Klinenberg writes.

Valentine's Day practically forces us to assess the success of our relationships. Couples are professing their love left and right, and you might be wondering how you and your partner are doing.

Luckily, research has found that you can simply ask yourself: How much do we laugh together?

Couples who laugh together reported higher quality relationships, according to a study published in Personal Relationships.

The researchers, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, recorded 71 heterosexual couples telling the story of how they first met. They then counted how many times the couple laughed, and whether they were laughing together or alone.

Couples who laughed together more reported having higher quality relationships, defined by their feelings of closeness and support.

The laughs also exposed some gender differences. Of the nearly 1,400 laughs the researchers recorded, 62% of them came from the women.

But men's laughs were more likely to be contagious, causing their female partner to laugh with them. And this reciprocation had a special effect on the men.

"The greater the duration of shared laughter in the lab, the higher the men's ratings of commitment, satisfaction, and passion toward their partners," lead study author Laura E. Kurtz, a graduate student, told Business Insider. "These findings suggest that there may be something especially potent about shared laughter for men."

The sample size of 71 couples is too small to know whether there's a similar effect in the general population, but Kurtz said previous research supports this association.

She also told us that she suspects "that shared laughter may play a causal role in promoting [high quality] relationships," though this study showed only a correlation.

Amid all the chocolate, roses, and candlelight this Valentine's Day, make sure there's a hefty dose of laughter, too.

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If you're in your early 20s and Valentine's Day has you thinking about your romantic future, consider the 37% Rule.

According to journalist Brian Christian and cognitive scientist Tom Griffiths, coauthors of "Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions," that rule could help you save time looking for a spouse.

The 37% Rule basically says that when you need to screen a range of options in a limited amount of time — be they candidates for a job, new apartments, or potential romantic partners — the best time to make a decision is when you've looked at 37% of those options.

At that point in a selection process, you'll have gathered enough information to make an informed decision, but you won't have wasted too much time looking at more options than necessary. At the 37% mark, you're in a good place to pick the best of the bunch.

A common thought experiment to demonstrate this theory — developed by non-PC math guys in the 1960s — is called "The Secretary Problem."

In the hypothetical scenario, you can only screen secretaries once. If you reject a candidate, you can't go back and hire them later (since they might have accepted another job). The question is: How deep into the pool of applicants do you go to maximize your chance of finding the best one?

If you interview just three applicants, the authors explain, your best bet is making a decision based on the strength of the second candidate. If she's better than the first, you hire her. If she's not, you wait. If you have five applicants, you wait until the third to start judging.

So if you're looking for love between the ages of 18 and 40, the optimal age to start seriously considering your future husband or wife is just past your 26th birthday (37% into the 22-year span). Before then, you'll probably miss out on higher-quality partners that could still come around, but after that, good options could start to become unavailable, decreasing your chances of finding a good match.

In mathematics lingo, searching for a potential mate is known as an "optimal stopping problem." Over 1,000 possibilities, Christian and Griffiths explain, you should pull the trigger on someone 36.81% of the way through. The bigger the pool of options, the closer to exactly 37% you can get.

Research about successful marriages seems to support the age sweet spot of 26.

In July 2015, the University of Utah sociologist Nicholas H. Wolfinger discovered that the best ages to get married in order to avoid divorce are between 28 and 32. The range doesn't align exactly — 28 years old is closer to a 45% Rule — but partners usually decide on each other a while before their actual wedding. Wolfinger's analysis also revealed that a couple's chances of breaking up increased by 5% each year after age 32.

The 37% Rule isn't perfect. Since it borrows from the cold logic of math, it assumes that people have a reasonable understanding of what they want in a partner by 26, but doesn't account for the fact that what we look for in our partners may change dramatically between 18 and 40.

What the 37% Rule does tell us is that 26 is the age when our dating decisions are most trustworthy— it's the point at which we can stop looking and start taking those big leaps of faith.

SEE ALSO: Americans are staying single longer than ever, and it’s changing modern marriage in 3 major ways

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As the weather warms up and swimsuit season looms, many are looking to get in shape. For those lacing up their running shoes, the big question is do they run outside, in the cold and rain, dodging cars, or do they go to the gym, hop on a treadmill and zone out. Is one better than the other?

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As the Swiss watch industry weathers a crisis, luxury brands are fighting for relevance online.

The latest example is Swiss luxury watchmaker Vacheron Constantin, which agreed to sell a unique version of its Cornes de Vache 1955 through the watch enthusiast website and shop Hodinkee.

The watch was a limited run of 36 pieces and ran for $45,000 — a bit cheaper than the standard version of the watch due to its stainless steel case. The watch is currently sold out, but interested buyers can join a waitlist.

This baby-sized step is more about brand awareness than actual online sales, the company's North American president, Vincent Brun, told Bloomberg.

"We wanted to make this digital step in order to increase brand exposure in the world and reach out to watch lovers we did not necessarily speak to until now," he said.

But according to Hodinkee, watchmakers are going to need to devote a lot more time and energy toward the online space than they are currently doing. The Swiss watch industry is in a severe downturn, with total exports nearing levels saw during the "Quartz crisis" when cheap, battery-powered watches made in Asia threatened the traditional business.

"It's the future of retail, and the distinctions between things like commerce, retail, brick-and-mortar, and e-commerce are going to continue blurring until we're left with a totally new paradigm," Stephen Pulvirent, managing editor and director of operations for Hodinkee, told Business Insider. "Adapting to this is going to be crucial for all businesses, but for typically conservative businesses like luxury watchmakers, they're going to have to do things that make them a bit uncomfortable in the beginning to ensure future success."

Hodinkee, with its online shop, is positioning itself to be a launchpad for watchmakers looking to get into the online business.

"We like to think of it as a new kind of 21st-century luxury shopping experience with implications that translate far beyond watches, too," Pulvirent said "These centuries-old brands know that we understand what they do and respect what they do, so they're more willing to take a leap of faith, knowing that we're holding their hands."

SEE ALSO: Luxury shoppers have a completely new attitude, and it's killing traditional retail

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