We Ranked All of Sex and the City's Couples

Dec 24, 2023

There was a lot of sex on Sex and the City, but even more love.

Throughout the years, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) each dated their fair share of guys and sometimes women, kissing and telling over many cosmos and NSFW lunches. But setting aside every one-episode love interest, there were 15 relationships on the show that really made an impact...and that we can remember 25 years later.

That's right, SATC premiered June 6, 1998, going on to deliver 94 episodes, two movies and one spinoff series—Max's And Just Like That...—worth of romantic highs and lows, including messy marriages, illicit affairs and swoonworthy moments that have kept fans invested for more than two fabulous decades and counting.

But that doesn't mean every relationship the four women had is worth looking back on quite so fondly. For every big romance there was a fling not even worth jotting down on a Post-it note.

So, which Sex and the City relationship ranks as the series' all-time best? Our pick for No. 1 may just surprise you...

Ugh, what an a--hole.

Best moment: N/A.

It's hard to remember the couple's early banter-filled, cute moments after all the horrible, passive-aggressive crap the writer pulled later on. HE BROKE UP WITH HER ON A POST-IT.

Best moment: None are coming to mind at the moment, Berger. We're sorry, we can't. Don't hate us.

No one believed this relationship would last, right? Still, Samantha gave it the ol' college try.

Best moment: After a night out with Carrie and her new beau, during which Samantha told Big to "back off," Maria told Samantha she couldn't be just friends.

Not on fans' bingo cards when they tuned into Max's revival series And Just Like That...? Miranda ending her marriage and following a standup comedian across the country!

Best Moment: TBD...hopefully? Otherwise, for the pure comedy of it all, it has to be Che and Miranda hooking up in Carrie's kitchen while a recovering-from-hip-surgery Carrie peed herself in bed.

Oh, the Russian. Their relationship started off too romantic to be true…and it was. He didn't get along with her friends and Carrie's impulsive move to Paris proved to be a disaster.

Best moment: After too many grand romantic gestures, Carrie literally swooned. So naturally, Petrovsky took her, in her dream ball gown, to McDonald's, where they slow-danced while waiting for fries. We literally swooned.

On paper, Trey was the perfect guy for Charlotte. But, the cracks began to show (overbearing mother, "Trey can't get it up," not wanting kids, etc.) soon after their wedding. Also: he gave her a cardboard cut-out baby. Who does that?!

Best moment: When Trey took Charlotte to Tiffany's so she could pick out her dream ring to make up for the infamous "Alrighty!" comment.

The first relationship Samantha had that wasn't based on sex came to an end because of, well, sex. Or James' small penis, to be exact.

Best moment: When Samantha told James she loved him. A huge (no pun intended) moment for her.

Poor, poor Skipper. He was kind of like a Steve-lite, and Miranda was able to walk all over him.

Best moment: When he calls her "luminous" during their chance meeting at a bodega.

Sure, it came out of nowhere in the movies that Carrie's BFF and Charlotte's wedding planner-turned-bestie would get together, but it kind of works for us.

Best moment: In their wedding vows, when Anthony said, "It wasn't love at first sight, but it turns out it was love. You are the first man to accept me for the man that I actually am."

Let's face it, Aidan was a great guy but he wasn't The Guy for Carrie…no matter how hard they both tried to convince themselves that he was. However, season two of And Just Like That... may just prove that second chances are the hottest trend this summer. (Yes, we are refusing to acknowledge their dalliance in Sex and the City 2.)

Best moment: Is it weird that we loved their breakup scene—the second one—where they slept on the floor of the apartment they would never live in together?

Talk about a catch. Robert was almost perfect: he was a hot doctor for the New York Knicks who watched the same soaps as Miranda. His one flaw? He just wasn't Steve.

Best moment: Their first kiss at their "lockers," (i.e.: mailboxes). Or her taking a personal day for the first time ever for him. OR THE CHICKEN POX.

Of all the guys on SATC, Smith Jerrod might just be the best. He was so patient and so giving with the wild Samantha, who fought tooth and nail not to fall in love with the model-turned-superstar.

Best moment: Who doesn't tear up just thinking about Smith shaving his golden locks for Samantha when she lost her hair while undergoing chemo?

Absof--kinglutely. (Curse you, Peloton!)

Best moment: Come on, how can we not choose Big going to Paris to finally tell Carrie she's the one? (Although the fart-in-bed/whoopee cushion prank still makes us smile.)

Just as Miranda's feelings for Steve snuck up on her, our love for this couple hit us like a ton of bricks—just like their split in And Just Like That...'s first season. Justice for Steve!

Best moment: If any moment perfectly represents SATC's most low-maintenance couple, it was Miranda's out-of-nowhere proposal and their super low-key wedding in the park. So them. So perfect.

They say love often finds you when you least expect it…like when your sweaty putz of a divorce lawyer turns out to be the man of your dreams and the best father to your children you could've imagined.

Best moment: Their mess-filled, imperfectly perfect nuptials. From the beginning of the series, Charlotte wanted the fairy tale wedding, but what she got was the fairy tale marriage.

"The most important thing in life is your family. There are days you love them and others you don't, but in the end they're the people you always come home to. Sometimes it's the family you're born into. And sometimes it's the one you make for yourself."

Best moment: We were SO tempted to choose Carrie walking Miranda down the aisle at her mother's funeral, but we thought a moment with all four girls was appropriate. Our choice? When Miranda doesn't give two shits about her wedding after hearing about Samantha's breast cancer diagnosis, with all four girls tuning out the celebration to just be together. Because that's what friendship is: putting others before yourself.

Sex and the City and And Just Like That... are streaming on Max.