Pew Study Shows Dating was Harder During the Pandemic 

Seventy percent of American singles felt that dating got harder during the pandemic, according to the latest research from Pew.

In 2019, before the pandemic took hold, about two thirds of singles said that dating was hard, compared to the new Pew study which took place February 2022, where roughly seven in ten singles said it was hard. 

This finding comes on the heels of the most profitable couple of years for the dating app industry, as people locked down at home and turned to dating apps for connection. Subscriptions and revenue rose for many dating app companies, but daters seem to be left wanting more.

Interestingly, despite the news stories about singles looking for serious relationships thanks to the pandemic, the majority (60 percent) of respondents said they are no more or less interested in finding a committed relationship now than they were before the pandemic. About twenty percent are evenly split between saying they are either more or less interested in finding a committed relationship now than they were before. 

Only three percent of respondents said that dating had gotten easier during the pandemic, while 32 percent said it stayed about the same. That said, daters younger than 30 were more apt to agree that dating is harder now (71 percent) than those over 30 years old (58 percent).

Interestingly, a majority of singles (56 percent) said they were off the dating market and are not even looking for casual dates, up from about half of singles in 2019. Of these, about 28 percent say that one reason they aren’t dating is that they might be exposed to Covid-19. However, the vast majority (about 70 percent) said they just like being single.

Among the 44 percent who are dating, 32 percent want only a committed relationship, 16 percent want to date casually, and about half are open to either a committed relationship or casual dates. Men are also more likely than women to say they are now more interested in a committed relationship (15%  vs. 8%).

Covid-19 vaccines play some role in whether or not people agree to dates, according to the study. About 56 percent said it wouldn’t matter to them if their date was vaccinated or not, although 41 percent said they would only consider dating someone who is vaccinated. These numbers skew along political party lines, with Democrats being four times as likely as Republicans to say they will only consider vaccinated dates. 

Only 2 percent said they would only go on a date with someone who is not vaccinated.