US online dating industry revenue

Between 2003 and 2022, American online dating revenue rose and American young adults living with their parents rose, and the two curves climbed together (r = 0.959) with a depressing efficiency that suggests the dating was happening, just not toward the particular outcome that involves moving out. Tinder grew; the childhood bedroom persisted. The bedspread, as ever, was the same.

US online dating industry revenue grew from about $200 million in 2003 to over $4 billion by 2022, with Match Group consolidating the field; the share of 18-29 year-old Americans living with their parents climbed from 30% to a peak of 52% during the pandemic, the highest since the Great Depression, before easing slightly to 45% by 2022. Both are children of the same economic weather: housing costs outpacing wages, delayed family formation, student debt, and the enormous friction cost of moving out of a bedroom with working Wi-Fi. The average first-date cost in a US metro now exceeds $150; the average rent savings from living with parents exceeds $1,500 per month. The math has consequences.

A swipe right. A parent's kitchen. A door closed quietly at 11 p.m. because work has an 8 a.m. standup.