Young Americans want love but are dating less, and money is the biggest reason why. The dating recession young Americans 2026 picture comes from the State of Our Unions 2026 report, based on the 2025 National Dating Landscape Survey of 5,275 unmarried adults ages 22 to 35, by the Wheatley Institute at Brigham Young University and the Institute for Family Studies.
Only 31% of young adults — 26% of women and just over a third of men at 36% — reported being active daters, defined as dating once a month or more. By contrast, three-quarters of women (74%) and nearly two-thirds of men (64%) had not dated, or had dated only a few times, in the last year, even though 86% of the sample expected to marry.
Money first, confidence close behind
Insufficient money was named the biggest obstacle to dating by 52% of young adults, followed by lack of confidence at 49% and bad past dating experiences at 48%. Contemporary dating is often centred on commercial activities, the report argues, and young adults frequently feel they cannot afford to date in that way.
BMO’s 2026 Real Financial Progress Index, cited in coverage, found half of single Americans going on fewer dates or choosing less expensive activities because of rising costs, and put a single date at an average $205 for Gen Z adults. Zelle’s New Economics of Dating Report, based on 1,800 Gen Z and millennial daters surveyed in August, found 84% saying rising costs changed their dating lives, with 32% going on fewer dates and 11% stopping dating completely because they cannot afford it.
A gap between wanting and pursuing
Researchers call the pattern a dating recession during prime dating years: the gap between wanting a relationship and actively pursuing one. Bank of America’s May survey of 1,133 Gen Z adults ages 18 to 29 found 51% spent nothing on romantic dates in a typical month, and 24% said their financial circumstances were causing them to delay moving relationships forward.
The findings do not suggest young adults have stopped valuing relationships. They suggest the cost of the first steps — the dinner, the tickets, the travel — has become a barrier in itself, and that cheaper, thoughtful dates are gaining ground: Zelle found 38% of daters viewed someone more positively for planning an affordable and thoughtful date, versus 23% for an extravagant one.
