New Study Shows Majority of Americans Find Success on Dating Apps

A new study by OnePoll/ Forbes Health found that a whopping 70 percent of individuals who met someone on a dating app said it led to a romantic, exclusive relationship, compared to only 28 percent who said it did not.

The study comes as interest in dating apps has started to decline, in part due to the perception that dating app users feel they can’t find a long-term partner this way. Gen Z, the youngest market and the biggest demographic for dating app companies, have begun to look for alternatives to dating apps to meet people.

Millennials and Gen Xers feel differently. In fact, people between 43 and 58 years of age found the most success on dating apps, with 72 percent saying that meeting on a dating app led to a romantic relationship, according to Forbes.

When asked how they felt about dating, 36 percent respondents said: “somewhat positively” and 24 percent said “very positively,” compared to 23 percent who said they felt “indifferent” to dating and 4 percent who said they felt “very negatively.”

Statistics also show that Americans are getting married later in life, and that most people who are single are happy with their relationship status, according to Forbes.

“Societal expectations are lower and pressures to get married in your 20s are less,” says Carole Lieberman, M.D., a psychiatrist in Beverly Hills, California told Forbes.

Other experts agree. Tara Lally, clinical psychologist in the department of psychiatry at Ocean University Medical Center in New Jersey told Forbes: “The ever-evolving societal expectations and pressures are bound to change the dating world…Marrying and having children later allows both partners to have established careers and identities, which bring an equal partnership into the relationship.”

Forbes surveyed 5,000 Americans in 2023 who have actively dated in the past five years.

Forbes also found that people are more open when it comes to who they will date and are prioritizing their self-care in relationships.

Sixty-three percent of respondents to the survey are more concerned with emotional maturity than physical looks when it comes to finding a partner. Thirty-eight percent of respondents said they are open to dating someone who’s not their physical type, and 28 percent are less concerned with dating someone that matches the expectations of others.

Almost half of respondents said they were focused on work/life balance and 13 percent aren’t interested in dating someone with a demanding job.