Roughly six out of ten young men, ages 18 to 29, report being single, as the share of U.S. adults “going it alone” continues to steadily rise, a survey from Pew Research Center found.
American adults under 30 are the most likely age group to report being single at 47 percent, including 63 percent of men and 34 percent of women. Pew Research Center conducted the survey with 6,034 U.S. adults from July 5-17, 2022, and republished its findings ahead of Valentine’s Day in 2023.
“Younger men are also far more likely than older men to be single — a pattern that is not as straightforward among women. Women ages 18 to 29, for example, are just as likely as women 65 and older to report being single,” according to the survey report.
Pew Research Center notes that the share of single men has stayed fairly even since 2019, however, single men overall are 11 percentage points less likely than in 2019 to say they are looking for a committed relationship and/or casual dates (50 percent in July of 2022 from 61 percent in 2019). During the same time frame, the percentage of single women looking for a relationship or casual dates saw “no significant change,” down to 35 percent in 2022 compared to 38 percent in 2019.
The survey found that “a majority of single adults are not interested in being struck (or even grazed) by Cupid’s arrow.”
“Among Americans who are single, the largest share — 57 percent — say they are not currently looking for a relationship or casual dates,” the survey report states.
A separate survey conducted in February of 2022 asked respondents their reasons for being single. “Just like being single” (44 percent) and “have more important priorities right now” (42 percent) were named most often as “major reasons” for foregoing romantic relationships.
Among adults who are “single and looking” 22 percent say they are open to committed relationships or casual dates, 13 percent say they are only looking for commitment, and 7 percent say they are only looking for casual dates. Overall, 42 percent of single Americans say they are looking for some kind of romance.
The survey found that half of “single-and-looking” adults have resorted to online dating.
“Some 45 percent of single Americans who are searching for a relationship and/or casual dates have used an online dating platform within the past year, including those who were on one currently as of the July 2022 survey,” the survey found.
However, young adults are much more likely to try a dating website or app; 53 percent of adults under 50 have done so, compared to 26 percent of those 50 and older.
Another recent survey found that young Americans are expressing “ambivalence” about online dating despite its growing popularity, some saying its convenience is bogged down by the “illusion of nearly limitless dating partners” that can lead to greater relationship dissatisfaction.
The Survey Center of American Life conducted a survey about dating and relationships with 5,055 U.S. adults, which included in-depth interviews with 21 young adults (ages 18 to 29) about their experiences with online dating. Daniel Cox, the director of the Survey Center on American Life, wrote that most interviewees like the convenience of dating online but feel like it can be “transactional” or “difficult to calibrate.”
“People think that they just have a million options,” one 26-year-old woman said during an interview. “It’s like when you want to watch a show and you put on Netflix and like, you literally find yourself not being able to decide for like an hour and then you wind up not watching anything.”
“Anytime a person, man or woman, has limitless options all the time, there is this perception, and most of the time it’s a false perception, that who they’re with now isn’t good enough,” a 28-year-old single man said. “That’s why no one has patience with each other anymore, because they could get something better.”
Another study done by Pew Research Center in 2021 found that record growth in the single population is “driven mainly by the decline in marriage among adults who are at prime working age.”
“At the same time, there has been a rise in the share who are cohabiting, but it hasn’t been enough to offset the drop in marriage — hence the overall decline in partnership,” that survey found. “While the unpartnered population includes some adults who were previously married (those who are separated, divorced or widowed), all of the growth in the unpartnered population since 1990 has come from a rise in the number who have never been married.”
The trend has “broad societal implications” when looking across a range of measures of economic and social status, according to the survey.
“Unpartnered adults generally have different — often worse — outcomes than those who are married or cohabiting. This pattern is apparent among both men and women. Unpartnered adults have lower earnings, on average, than partnered adults and are less likely to be employed or economically independent,” according to the survey. “They also have lower educational attainment and are more likely to live with their parents. Other research suggests that married and cohabiting adults fare better than those who are unpartnered when it comes to some health outcomes.”
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