7 Surprising Online Dating Stats About Men’s Choices

Online dating has never been more popular. We can see this in TV and movies – everyone is swiping, flirting and matching constantly. But, how do men fare in the modern world of online dating? We looked into some of our extensive data studies to find out the online dating statistics of the emotional and practical reality of men dating online.

There are so many interesting dating statistics it was hard to pick, so we chose the most shocking and myth-busting stats. To understand, here are some of the questions we answered with our online dating statistics about men:

How successful is online dating?

This is tricky to answer because ‘success’ is subjective. However, Michael Rosenfeld, a sociologist at Stanford, claims that meeting your partner online indicates you’re much more likely to marry them. This is likely due to knowing a lot about your partner before you meet them thanks to their profile, and that you can also select people who share your interests, therefore increasing compatibility.

Who uses online dating?

40% of Americans use online dating. Men use online dating more than women, 52.4% of dating users are men compared to 47.6% of women.

How do men feel about dating and relationships in 2019?

We try to answer how men are feeling about dating in 2019 below with some of our most interesting online dating statistics.

Online Dating Statistics Revealed

1. Men and Marriage

Proposals have always been presented as a male obligation in heterosexual relationships. But, in one of our studies about proposals and attitudes to marriage, it was discovered that more than a fifth of men (21%) said that they would actually prefer to be proposed to!

2. Men and Cooking

Surprisingly, men were less impressed when their potential partner could cook compared to women. Only 75% of men said ‘yes’ when asked ‘Do you find someone more attractive if they can cook?’ Whereas, a massive 83% of women said it was something they found attractive on a date.

3. Paying For Dinner – Men or Women?

A whopping 67% of male and female respondents said that men should pay for dinner, with 28% saying that it should be split evenly and 12% saying to pay for what you eat. A meagre 0.8% thought women should pay for dinner.

So how does this split among gender roles? Surprisingly, it’s men who think they should pay more than women, 82% of men think they should foot the bill. And 55% of women agree, but it should be noted that 34% of women thought that splitting evenly was the best option.

4. Men and Friendships

Who do people choose to turn to when they have a relationship question? 60% of women said they would ask a friend about their real relationship questions, while surprisingly, 66% of men also said that they would seek out relationship advice from their friends. But almost a third of men prefer to keep it to themselves (32%), with only 16% of women saying the same. Interestingly, 11% of people said they would turn to Google – even more popular than asking a family member, which was only favored by 7%!

5. Men and Sex Appeal

Surprisingly, one of our surveys found that sex appeal is more important to women (60.5% consider it important) than men (54%).

6. Men and Mental Health

We also asked men ‘if you were feeling blue, would you talk to someone about it, and if so who would you talk to?’ Only 28% of men said they would talk to their friends, while 29% named their partner as their chief confidante. A substantial 26% of men said they wouldn’t speak to anyone.

7. Men and Emotions

In our survey, we found that while 95% of women answered ‘yes’ to the question ‘do you think women prefer men who are open with their emotions?’. Interestingly, 84% of men answered the same way. That’s right: despite women overwhelmingly establishing that they prefer a man who is open about his emotions, 16% of men (around 1 in 6) still wrongly believe that women find emotional men less attractive.

We also found that men admitted to crying once every few months, with some 27% of male respondents answering this way. 14% said once a week, another 14% said once a month, 17% said they only cry at weddings, births, or funerals. 2% of men said they cry every day and a stoic 6% said they don’t cry at all.

We conduct a lot of surveys at EliteSingles but we’re especially proud that our analysis has highlighted some of the myths around male gender. In 2019, it’s important that men feel like they can live and express themselves freely and look after their mental wellness without feeling the pressure of conforming to stereotypes.

If you have any questions about any of our surveys then feel free to email our press team at [email protected]