More single Americans want to get married than at any point in a decade and a half, according to the Kinsey Institute’s 15th annual Singles in America survey, which found 45% of respondents would like to marry someday, up from 33% in 2010. The share saying they did not want a relationship fell from a 32% peak in 2021 to 24% in 2026, and another 30% said they would consider long-term commitment without marriage.
The survey, conducted with Match Group, questioned about 5,000 US single adults aged 18 and over online between March and April 2026, with participants answering 120 questions. The sample was balanced for age and gender using US Census demographics. The findings are a company-funded annual survey, not peer-reviewed research, and should be read as a snapshot of attitudes rather than proof of a trend’s cause.
AI has entered the dating game
Nearly four in ten singles, 39%, said they had used AI in their dating lives, including 67% of Gen Z, and men reported doing so more often than women, 47% to a lower figure for women. Yet the same singles were sceptical that technology can replace human connection, echoing separate 2025 Pew Research Center findings in which 50% of US adults expected AI to worsen people’s ability to form meaningful relationships, while only 5% expected improvement.
Higher standards, longer road
More than a third of singles, 34%, reported keeping a checklist for a long-term partner, up from 25% in 2021. The picture matches yesterday’s ReportRig post on singles wanting a longer road to marriage: the desire for commitment is rising, but so are the standards, and the timeline is stretching. Interest in marriage did not translate into enthusiasm for parenthood, the survey found, with many singles separating the two decisions.
The survey’s authors are careful about what the numbers prove. Match funds the project and conducts it with the Kinsey Institute, with third-party companies handling recruitment and survey collection, and the organisers note that the 80,000-plus figure sometimes quoted is cumulative across all 15 editions, not the size of the 2026 sample. The 2026 edition surveyed about 5,000 single adults, and its findings should be read as a company-funded annual survey rather than peer-reviewed scholarship. Even so, the direction of travel is consistent with other research: singles want commitment more than they did, they are choosier about who they commit to, and they are in no rush.
