Half of Gen Z spends $0 a month on dating thanks to a ‘romance recession'

Yahoo

8 hours ago

For a demographic cohort facing a high cost of living, mounting student-loan debt and job-market instability, Generation Z has not been placing a high priority on dating. Instead, it's a financial burden.
Data on spending habits provide a glimpse of how young folks' mindset toward dating has shifted. About half of men (53%) and women (54%) ages 18 to 28 are spending $0 a month on dating, a recent Bank of America BAC report on Gen Z adults' financial health found.
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This is likely because Gen Z has a different approach to dating compared with prior generations when their members were in the age bracket Gen Z is in now, experts say. With pandemic-fueled changes to how people socialize, alongside economic pressures fueling a pullback in young people's spending, dating has taken a backseat for a significant portion of Gen Z. Instead, many are prioritizing economic security before rushing to find a partner, get married, have kids and buy a home, compared with past generations, who typically hit those milestones earlier in life.
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The Gen Z dating scene has been shaped by dating apps, social media and generative AI in ways that previous generations did not experience, while a period of forced isolation during the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated young people's reliance on online connection, which in turn altered the way they connect. A 2024 Hinge report found that Gen Z is 50% more likely than millennials to wait to answer a message from a potential match to avoid seeming overzealous, and more than half (56%) surveyed said the fear of rejection has kept them from pursuing a potential relationship.
'We've seen a continual decline in dating. Some people are calling this the 'romance recession' or the 'sex recession,' particularly when we look at Gen Zs and you think of when they came of age, and dating and the pandemic hit within that,' said dating coach Damona Hoffman. 'I see more people tapping out of the dating market entirely and just having anxiety about even stepping into the dating scene if they don't have the money to date.'
About half of the Gen Z members surveyed by Bank of America said the high cost of living is a barrier to financial success. 'They're worried about groceries, worried about rent, worried about dining out,' said Will Smayda, head of financial centers at Bank of America.
And prices are still on the rise. At the core of the consumer-price index, an inflation reading that excludes food and energy prices and is a better predictor, prices were up 0.3% in July — the sharpest monthly increase since January.
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Experts agree these growing financial hardships are making it hard for Gen Z to prioritize dating. And when members of the generation do decide to spend time and money on a date, they're more deliberate with their choices.
'We're seeing a shift toward intentional dating, especially among younger singles,' said Michael Kaye, director of brand marketing and communications for the dating app OkCupid. 'Gen Z isn't matching for instant gratification; they're dating with purpose and prioritizing compatibility and shared values, over flashy spending.'
Some Gen Z–ers have chosen to tap out of the dating scene because of their own insecurities. Hoffman said she often comes across Gen Z singles who feel they are not 'dateable' because of debt or a low-paying job, and a fear of being judged by potential partners keeps them from dating altogether.
However, data suggest that these fears may be unfounded: 68% of singles surveyed by OkCupid said they would date someone who makes significantly less than them, provided that person is driven or money is not a priority for them in a relationship. Gen Z and millennials made up 90% of the survey respondents.
People anxious about their own financial status and career might not realize that much of the dating pool is in the same boat, Hoffman said. And even if people think or say they're looking for a partner who is rich, the person they end up connecting with might not fit that bill.
'What they say they want on a dating app or what they are kind of aspirationally going for in a match is not necessarily all they will date,' Hoffman said.
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These money concerns tend to loom larger for singles when a relationship is still hypothetical, Hoffman added. 'When you actually make that connection and they find some commonality, the financial piece usually is not front-loaded as much as it is when somebody is thinking about dating or planning to date.'
While these various stressors haven't kept the entire generation from dating, they have made those who are dating more budget-conscious. Just under half of those surveyed by Bank of America said they are spending money on dating, with 28% of the total survey sample saying they spend less than $100 a month. Of the Gen Z–ers in a relationship, 43% of those not living together spent anywhere from $1 to $100 a month on dates, and 48% of cohabitating couples also fell in that range.
Along with financial pressures, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a trend of young people turning to online spaces for connection. While this sometimes meant engaging in solitary activities like binge-watching TV shows, it also led to a greater reliance on online communities to maintain social ties during quarantine. A Pew Research Center study, for example, found that adults under 30 were likeliest to say social-media sites helped them stay connected to friends and family during the pandemic.
For many young people who wanted to be out and about socializing and dating, this online connection was a lifeline. However, it created a stark contrast with previous generations, which relied on in-person gatherings and phone calls to form connections, using social media as a supplement to socializing rather than as a replacement, the Pew study suggests.
From the archives (April 2020): Online dating amid coronavirus: Longer conversations and a 'pivot' to video dates
Gen Z is also the first generation to come of age during the era of generative artificial intelligence, and while generative-AI companions are growing in popularity, their impact on dating is nuanced. A third of Gen Z singles have engaged with AI as a romantic companion, compared with 16% of all American singles, a 2025 study by Match Group MTCH in collaboration with the Kinsey Institute found.
'If you have Chad on your computer for free, why are you going to pay money to meet a real person who might reject you?' Hoffman said.
This trend toward AI companionship among singles, while notable, does not provide a full picture of Gen Z's relationship with the technology. A broader 2024 Pew Research Center survey found that the majority of adults under 30 are mostly using generative AI tools for work, learning and entertainment, rather than for romantic purposes. So while the role of AI in dating is growing, research suggests it is not a mainstream replacement for human relationships.
Nonetheless, as Gen Z navigates evolving societal and economic pressures, a ripple effect is appearing: Dating is being delayed, which then pushes back major milestones such as marriage and homeownership.
Young adults are prioritizing economic security over having kids, Census Bureau data show, reflecting the rising cost of living. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller national home-price index, which tracks U.S. residential real-estate prices, has nearly doubled over the past decade, while annual prices for child care ranged between $6,500 and $15,600 in 2022. The cost of tuition at a four-year public university increased 36.7% between 2010 and 2023, according to the Education Data Initiative.
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These rising prices have served as barriers for young people looking to settle down. In 1975, 45% of people ages 25 to 34 had moved out of the house, gotten married, had children and bought a home. In 2024, just 21% of people in this age group had reached all four of these milestones.
'Their milestones are not the same as their parents' milestones,' Hoffman said. 'The goalposts have moved.'
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One promising finding from the Bank of America report about Gen Z's financial health is that 72% of the young people surveyed took steps to improve their financial health over the past year, including putting money toward savings (51%) or paying down debt (24%).
Gen Z–ers are also more straightforward than their older counterparts about their financial situation. They're more likely to participate in 'loud budgeting,' or openly share their budget strategies, said Smayda of Bank of America, and 42% in the report said they feel comfortable turning down a social outing if they can't afford it.
From the archives (January 2024): 'Loud budgeting' is in for 2024, TikTok users say. It's kind of a joke — but experts say it could help you.
'I think being willing to say no is like a really good tool, a really good habit, when building your financial life,' Smayda said. 'I find that to be encouraging.'
For Gen Z members wanting to dip a toe into the dating pool, reframing a personal budget can help. Instead of seeing it as 'dating' money, thinking of it as 'socializing' money can get people off dating apps and into the real world to potentially find connections. This approach removes the pressure that spending $100 on a one-on-one dinner date might bring.
This isn't a new idea. When prior generations spent money going out, Hoffman said, they didn't always see it as money invested in dating. Instead, it was simply something they did for fun, without the high stakes of finding a romantic partner.
Some Gen Z–ers burned out from dating apps are eager to meet more people in person. Hoffman suggested that Generation Z could adopt this lower-expectation approach to their budget to take off some of the pressure.
'Going to a bar or a club before, it could have been the way that you met your person. You didn't necessarily think of it as a dating activity that you were investing in,' Hoffman said. 'I'm really passionate about people continuing to connect IRL,' or in real life, 'because those skills of in-person communication and connection are really atrophying.'
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