---
title: "Dating Statistics 2026 — the State of Dating in Numbers"
description: "Curated dating app and relationship statistics for 2026: who's online, who's actually dating, marriage timing, what it costs — every number sourced."
canonical: "https://get-bean.com/journal/dating-statistics"
date: "2026-07-23"
site: "Bean"
---


# The state of dating in 2026, in numbers

Twelve numbers that describe how people actually meet now — collected from Pew, Stanford, the Census, and the researchers behind the dating recession. Every one linked to its original source.

**The short version**

- About 3 in 10 US adults have tried a dating app; among under-30s, more than half have (Pew).
- Meeting online is now the single most common way couples meet (Stanford HCMST).
- Yet only 31% of young singles who expect to marry are actively dating (IFS, 2026).
- Median first marriage now lands at 28.8 for women, 30.8 for men (Census ACS, 2024).

About three in ten American adults have tried a dating app, and more than half of under-30s have — yet fewer than a third of young singles are actively dating. Held together, those numbers describe the strangest dating market in decades. This page collects the rest of the picture, every figure linked to the researchers who produced it.

Two rules here: each number cites its original source (Pew, Stanford, the Census Bureau, peer-reviewed journals), and where the evidence is shaky, we say so instead of quoting it anyway.

## Who's actually on the apps

Three in ten US adults (30%) have used a dating site or app, per [Pew Research (2023)](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2023/02/02/from-looking-for-love-to-swiping-the-field-online-dating-in-the-u-s/) — a figure that held steady from 2019 to 2022, so "everyone's on the apps" was never quite true. Age changes the story: 53% of adults under 30 have tried one, against 20% of those 50 to 64.

Paying is more common than most people admit at brunch: [35% of online-dating users](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2023/02/02/from-looking-for-love-to-swiping-the-field-online-dating-in-the-u-s/) have paid for an app or an extra feature. The rate climbs with age and income — 41% of users over 30 have paid, versus 22% of the under-30s.

## How couples actually meet now

Meeting online is now the single most common way US couples get together. Stanford's How Couples Meet and Stay Together survey found it overtook meeting through friends around 2017 — the analysis by [Rosenfeld, Thomas and Hausen (PNAS, 2019)](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1908630116) calls it "disintermediating your friends," which is the polite academic way of saying the matchmaker got automated.

Among all partnered adults, [10% met their partner online](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2023/02/02/from-looking-for-love-to-swiping-the-field-online-dating-in-the-u-s/); among partnered adults under 30 it's 20%, and among LGB adults it's 24% (Pew, 2023). Online is now the front door. What's changed is how few people are walking through any door at all.

Do online-met couples last? A [2013 PNAS study](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23733955/) of 19,131 respondents found slightly higher marital satisfaction and fewer breakups among couples who met online. One honest caveat: eharmony helped fund it. The independent Stanford data shows no penalty for meeting online either — take the direction, hold the decimals loosely.

> Online is now the front door. Fewer people are walking through any door at all.

## The dating recession, quantified

The [Institute for Family Studies' 2026 "State of Our Unions" report](https://ifstudies.org/report-brief/state-of-our-unions-2026-the-dating-recession) surveyed 5,275 unmarried adults aged 22 to 35. Of those who expect to marry someday (86% of the sample), only 31% were actively dating at all. Women: 26%. Men: 36%. The gap between wanting a partner and looking for one is the whole story.

**31%** — of young singles who expect to marry are actively dating. The other 69% want the destination and aren't on the road. (Institute for Family Studies, 2026)

It isn't for lack of seriousness. In the same survey, [83% of young women and roughly three-quarters of young men](https://ifstudies.org/report-brief/state-of-our-unions-2026-the-dating-recession) said they want dating aimed at serious relationships. The most-cited barrier isn't apps or attitude — it's money: 52% named not having enough of it as their biggest obstacle to dating.

## Marriage: later, but still wanted

The median American now marries for the first time at [28.8 (women) and 30.8 (men)](https://www.bgsu.edu/ncfmr/resources/data/family-profiles/fp-26-01.html), per 2024 Census ACS data analyzed by Bowling Green's National Center for Family & Marriage Research. In 1980, a quarter of today's never-married-at-40 number would have seemed implausible: [25% of 40-year-olds have never married](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/06/28/a-record-high-share-of-40-year-olds-in-the-us-have-never-been-married/), up from 6% then (Pew analysis of Census data).

Later doesn't mean never wanted. Among never-married adults under 50, [63% of non-LGBTQ and 59% of LGBTQ adults](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/08/11/majorities-of-lgbtq-and-non-lgbtq-us-adults-under-50-want-to-get-married-someday/) say they want to marry someday (Pew, 2025). The desire didn't go anywhere. The timeline stretched.

## What the numbers can't tell you

Only [21% of online-dating users](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/02/02/key-findings-about-online-dating-in-the-u-s/) believe an algorithm could predict whether two people will fall in love — and the 79% are right to be skeptical; no matching model has published evidence it can. We also looked for a solid figure on how long couples date before marrying, and found only blog numbers with no methodology behind them. When a statistic has no traceable source, the honest move is the one we made: leave it out.

## The reference table

*every figure links to its original source · compiled july 2026*
| Number | What it measures | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 30% | US adults who have ever used a dating site or app (2022) | [Pew Research](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2023/02/02/from-looking-for-love-to-swiping-the-field-online-dating-in-the-u-s/) |
| 53% | Adults under 30 who have tried one | [Pew Research](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2023/02/02/from-looking-for-love-to-swiping-the-field-online-dating-in-the-u-s/) |
| 35% | Online-dating users who have ever paid for one | [Pew Research](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2023/02/02/from-looking-for-love-to-swiping-the-field-online-dating-in-the-u-s/) |
| 10% | Partnered adults who met their partner online (20% under 30) | [Pew Research](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2023/02/02/from-looking-for-love-to-swiping-the-field-online-dating-in-the-u-s/) |
| No. 1 | Online: the most common way US couples meet since ~2017 | [Rosenfeld et al., PNAS](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1908630116) |
| 86% | Unmarried 22–35s who expect to marry someday | [IFS, 2026](https://ifstudies.org/report-brief/state-of-our-unions-2026-the-dating-recession) |
| 31% | …of whom this share is actively dating | [IFS, 2026](https://ifstudies.org/report-brief/state-of-our-unions-2026-the-dating-recession) |
| 52% | Young singles naming money as their biggest dating barrier | [IFS, 2026](https://ifstudies.org/report-brief/state-of-our-unions-2026-the-dating-recession) |
| 28.8 / 30.8 | Median age at first marriage, women / men (2024) | [NCFMR · Census ACS](https://www.bgsu.edu/ncfmr/resources/data/family-profiles/fp-26-01.html) |
| 25% | 40-year-olds never married in 2021 — versus 6% in 1980 | [Pew Research](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/06/28/a-record-high-share-of-40-year-olds-in-the-us-have-never-been-married/) |
| 63% / 59% | Never-married under-50s who want to marry (non-LGBTQ / LGBTQ) | [Pew Research](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/08/11/majorities-of-lgbtq-and-non-lgbtq-us-adults-under-50-want-to-get-married-someday/) |
| 21% | Online daters who believe algorithms can predict love | [Pew Research](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/02/02/key-findings-about-online-dating-in-the-u-s/) |

If a number here goes stale, the source links are the referee — we update this page when the underlying surveys do.

## Questions people ask

**How many people actually meet their partner on a dating app?**

Among all partnered US adults, about 1 in 10 met their partner online. Among partnered adults under 30, it's about 1 in 5 — and online is now the most common single way couples meet, per Stanford's HCMST survey.

**Are dating apps dying?**

Usage isn't: the share of US adults who've tried one held at 30% from 2019 to 2022 (Pew). What's shrinking is active dating itself — only 31% of young singles who expect to marry are dating at all (IFS, 2026). The recession is in dating, not in apps.

**What is the average age to get married in the US?**

Median age at first marriage in 2024 was 28.8 for women and 30.8 for men, based on Census Bureau ACS data. Both have risen roughly seven years since 1980.

**Do couples who meet online stay together?**

The best-known study (PNAS, 2013) found slightly higher marital satisfaction and fewer breakups for online-met couples, though eharmony part-funded it. Independent Stanford data shows no penalty for meeting online. Direction: fine. Precision: hold loosely.

## Sources

- [Pew Research Center — From Looking for Love to Swiping the Field: Online Dating in the U.S. (2023)](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2023/02/02/from-looking-for-love-to-swiping-the-field-online-dating-in-the-u-s/)
- [Pew Research Center — Key findings about online dating in the U.S. (2023)](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/02/02/key-findings-about-online-dating-in-the-u-s/)
- [Institute for Family Studies — State of Our Unions 2026: The Dating Recession](https://ifstudies.org/report-brief/state-of-our-unions-2026-the-dating-recession)
- [Rosenfeld, Thomas & Hausen — Disintermediating your friends (PNAS, 2019)](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1908630116)
- [Cacioppo et al. — Marital satisfaction and break-ups across on-line and off-line meeting venues (PNAS, 2013)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23733955/)
- [NCFMR, Bowling Green State University — Median Age at First Marriage (2024 ACS)](https://www.bgsu.edu/ncfmr/resources/data/family-profiles/fp-26-01.html)
- [Pew Research Center — A record-high share of 40-year-olds have never been married (2023)](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/06/28/a-record-high-share-of-40-year-olds-in-the-us-have-never-been-married/)
- [Pew Research Center — Majorities of U.S. adults under 50 want to get married someday (2025)](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/08/11/majorities-of-lgbtq-and-non-lgbtq-us-adults-under-50-want-to-get-married-someday/)

## Related reading

- [The dating recession is real. Here's the data.](https://get-bean.com/journal/the-dating-recession.md)
- [Dating for marriage, without making it weird](https://get-bean.com/journal/dating-for-marriage.md)
- [How much do dating apps cost in 2026?](https://get-bean.com/journal/what-dating-apps-cost.md)

---

*Bean is the dating app for people serious about family. Swipe on the child you'd make together, then connect. Human version of this article: https://get-bean.com/journal/dating-statistics*