FIELD NOTES · RESEARCH

Gen Z dating: what the research says about how under-30s really date

The first generation raised on smartphones is the most likely to have used a dating app, and among the keenest to meet in real life. The numbers behind the stereotypes.

By The On Dating Journal Editors Published 13 October 2026Updated 19 October 202611 min read

US adults who have ever used a dating site or app, by age (%, Pew Research Center, 2022)

18–2953%

30–4937%

50–6420%

65+13%

Gen Z makes up more than half of Tinder’s global user base, according to the company’s own data. Yet when Tinder piloted real-world events in Los Angeles this year, 18 to 24-year-olds were the age group most eager to get off the app and into a room. That contradiction, a generation fluent in swiping and visibly tired of it, runs through almost every study of how young people date.

Much of what is written about them leans on company press releases dressed up as research. This piece separates the independent surveys from the commissioned ones, and says which is which.

How Gen Z uses dating apps

The cleanest independent figures come from the Pew Research Center’s 2022 survey of 6,034 American adults. Among under-30s, 53 per cent had ever used a dating site or app, against 37 per cent of 30 to 49-year-olds and 13 per cent of over-65s. One in five partnered under-30s (20 per cent) met their current partner online, double the rate for all partnered adults.

Young users are also loyal to one brand. Pew found that 79 per cent of online daters under 30 had used Tinder, compared with 44 per cent of 30 to 49-year-olds. And they are split on whether it works: 35 per cent of 18 to 29-year-olds said online dating had made finding a long-term partner easier, while 33 per cent said harder.

Gen Z dating in Britain

In the UK, Ofcom found that one in five 18 to 24-year-olds used an online dating service in May 2024, the highest reach of any adult age group, according to the regulator. ITV News put the figure at 943,000 people, or 18 per cent of the age group.

When it comes to actual relationships, YouGov’s 2026 Big Survey on Relationships, conducted among 1,882 British adults in July 2026, found that 16 per cent of 18 to 29-year-olds met their current or most recent partner on a dating app. The youngest adults were as likely to have met a partner at school (18 per cent) or university (17 per cent), which YouGov notes says more about their age than any shift in behaviour. Apps peak a decade later, accounting for 22 per cent of relationships among people in their thirties. For the wider picture, see our report on how couples meet.

Intentional dating: does Gen Z want commitment?

The stereotype says Gen Z treats romance as content. The surveys mostly say otherwise, though many of them are paid for by companies with an interest in the answer.

Match Group’s fourth-quarter 2025 shareholder letter cites a Harris Poll finding that roughly 80 per cent of Gen Z singles want meaningful relationships; the company did not publish the methodology in the letter. Tinder’s own Year in Swipe 2025 declared that “2024 was about intentional dating”, coining trend labels such as “clear-coding” for saying plainly what you want. The press release offers no data to support the claim.

Bumble’s 2025 dating trends poll, an in-app survey of 41,294 members aged 18 to 35 carried out in September 2024, found that 95 per cent said worries about the future affected who and how they date, and that 49 per cent of Gen Z singles saw geeking out over a shared interest as a form of intimacy. As an in-app poll of one company’s users, it is not representative of young people as a whole.

Independent British data adds a sober counterweight. YouGov’s section on single Britons found that 32 per cent of younger singletons want a relationship now, against 12 per cent of singles in their sixties or older. But 36 per cent of younger singles also said dating was stressful or difficult, above the 29 per cent average.

Young, single and staying that way

There is also a structural story. Stanford sociologist Michael Rosenfeld’s analysis of the How Couples Meet and Stay Together survey, published in the Journal of Family Issues in 2025, found the share of single American adults rose from 18.9 per cent in 2017 to 24.3 per cent in 2022, with the sharpest rise among adults aged 35 and under. He calls it a “pandemic dating recession” that did not end when lockdowns did.

Gen Z and dating app burnout

Young daters are tired, though not uniquely so. In a Forbes Health survey conducted by OnePoll of 1,000 American adults who had used a dating app in the past year (March to April 2024, commissioned by Forbes Health), 79 per cent of Gen Z said apps left them emotionally, mentally or physically exhausted at least sometimes. Millennials were marginally higher at 80 per cent. Our full analysis of the evidence is in dating app fatigue.

Group dates, run clubs and meeting in real life

Where Gen Z is clearly different is in how it wants to meet people offline: in groups, around an activity, with friends nearby.

Double dates. Tinder’s Double Date feature, launched in June 2025, lets two friends pair up and match with another pair. According to Tinder’s internal testing data, nearly 90 per cent of Double Date profiles came from users under 29, and people sent 35 per cent more messages in those conversations than in one-to-one chats.

Events. In the Los Angeles pilot of Tinder Events, 71 per cent of eligible active users aged 18 to 24 engaged with the feature, against 63 per cent of those 25 and over, the company reported. Tinder notes the figures may not be representative of other markets.

Fitness. Strava’s 2025 Year in Sport press release, syndicated by Adnkronos and based on a survey of more than 30,000 people, said Gen Z was “finding community and connection at run clubs” and spending money on fitness over dating. The release reports that 39 per cent more Gen Z than Gen X respondents use fitness to meet people who share their interests, and that 64 per cent of all respondents would rather spend on kit than on a date, according to the full text. A year earlier, Strava’s survey of 5,068 active people found four times as many wanted to meet new people through a fitness group as at a bar, GearJunkie reported. Strava is a fitness company with a product to sell, so treat these as indicative.

Sober-curious dating: the trend with the thinnest data

Few Gen Z dating trends are discussed more, or measured less, than the sober date. The shift towards coffee, walks and activity dates is visible in the products: a candlelit ceramics class sold out within a day in Tinder’s Los Angeles pilot, and run clubs have become a dating cliché in their own right. In the New Statesman in October 2025, Zoë Huxford linked the drift away from apps to young people going out less and drinking less.

What we could not find, in any of the surveys we examined, was a reliable, independently conducted measure of how many young people now prefer alcohol-free dates. Until one exists, treat confident percentages on sober dating with caution, and check who paid for them.

Gen Z, AI and dating

AI is moving from novelty to habit faster among young singles than anyone else. Match’s Singles in America study, run with the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University and funded by Match, surveyed 5,001 American singles for its 2025 edition. It found 26 per cent of singles using AI to enhance their dating lives, an increase of 333 per cent in a year, and said nearly half of Gen Z singles had already used AI in their dating lives.

The previous year’s edition, reported by ScienceBlog, put AI use at just 6 per cent of all singles and 14 per cent of online daters. Of those using it, 43 per cent wrote their profiles with it and 37 per cent used it for a first message. Nearly 50 per cent of singles said they would draw the line at a match using AI to alter their photos.

The apps are building it in. Match Group’s February 2026 letter says Hinge rolled out AI-driven “Convo Starters” in the US in December 2025, and that Tinder is testing AI-driven recommendations. More on the tools, and the ethics, in our report on AI in dating.

Safety concerns for young daters

The risks fall unevenly, and young women carry most of them. Pew found that among women under 50 who had used dating apps, 56 per cent had been sent unsolicited sexually explicit messages or images, 43 per cent had been contacted again after saying they were not interested, 37 per cent had been called an offensive name and 11 per cent had been threatened with physical harm. Among all users, 52 per cent believed they had come across someone trying to scam them, rising to 63 per cent of men under 50.

The industry’s main answer is identity checks. Tinder’s Face Check, a video-selfie verification that compares a live face with profile photos, became mandatory for new users in seven countries and California, according to Tinder’s October 2025 announcement. The company reports an over 60 per cent decrease in exposure to potential bad actors when combined with other safety measures, based on its own sample of profile views. For a fuller picture of fraud risks, see our romance scam statistics.

What the Gen Z dating data adds up to

Strip out the trend-forecasting and the evidence is consistent. Gen Z is the most likely generation to have used a dating app and, in the US, the most likely to have met a partner through one. It is also the most enthusiastic about leaving the app behind for group dates, events and shared activities, and the quickest to bring AI into the process. Young women face the sharpest safety risks, and the apps are responding with verification rather than redesign.

If you are choosing where to start, our ranking of the best dating apps compares the main options, and our Bumble review and Hinge review look at two of the apps most used by younger daters.

Frequently asked questions

Does Gen Z use dating apps?

Yes, more than any other generation. Pew found 53 per cent of US adults under 30 had used a dating site or app, and Ofcom found one in five UK 18 to 24-year-olds used a dating service in May 2024, the highest of any age group.

Is Gen Z looking for serious relationships?

Company-funded surveys suggest most say so: a Harris Poll cited by Match Group found roughly 80 per cent of Gen Z singles want meaningful relationships. Independent YouGov data shows 32 per cent of younger British singles want a relationship now.

How does Gen Z prefer to meet people?

Increasingly in groups and around activities. Nearly 90 per cent of Tinder’s Double Date profiles came from under-29s, and 18 to 24-year-olds were the most engaged age group in its in-person Events pilot, according to the company.

Does Gen Z use AI for dating?

Increasingly. Match’s 2025 Singles in America study found nearly half of Gen Z singles had used AI in their dating lives, against 26 per cent of all US singles.

Is sober dating a real Gen Z trend?

It is widely reported, but we found no reliable independent data measuring it. The clearer evidence is for activity-based and group dates, which apps and fitness platforms are now actively promoting.