Paid dating apps: who has paid

The short answer

Here is what the sources show

In Pew's 2022 survey, 35% of U.S. adults who had used online dating said they had paid at least once for a site, app, or extra feature. This does not show who currently pays or whether payment improves results.

35%: of online daters had paid
45%: among upper-income users
28%: among lower-income users

Research articleUpdated Jul 21, 20264 min readBy The Pool Report Research Desk

See how many U.S. online daters paid for a site, app, or feature. Compare the result by income.

Payment includes more than subscriptions

Pew's measure includes people who paid for a platform and people who bought extra features. It does not separate monthly subscriptions from one-time boosts or other purchases.

'Paid at some point' does not mean that the person is paying now.

Payment varies with household income

Among online-dating users, 45% of upper-income adults had paid, compared with 36% of middle-income users and 28% of lower-income users.

The difference shows who reported paying, not whether a paid product produced more matches, dates, or relationships.

Do not turn payment into a success claim

A payment rate is a monetization statistic. It cannot prove that paid features improve outcomes without a study comparing like users and a defined result over a fixed period.

For personal budgeting, subscription costs belong alongside actual date spending. The two expenses answer different questions and should remain separate.

Where this comes from

Sources we checked

Read the original sources behind these numbers. They show the group, date, and measure used.

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Pew Research Center
From Looking for Love to Swiping the Field
National survey designed to represent U.S. adults: 6,034 people surveyed July 5–17, 2022, with definitions and tables for smaller groups.
Checked July 22, 2026
Read the original source ↗

Common questions

Are these numbers current dating-app user counts?

No. They are survey estimates from Pew’s July 2022 survey, published in 2023. They measure what U.S. adults reported, not live accounts or monthly active users.

What percentage of dating app users pay?

Thirty-five percent of Americans who had ever used online dating said they had paid for a site, app, or feature at some point.

Does paying for a dating app improve the success rate?

The Pew payment statistic does not answer that. It measures payment history, not whether paying causes more matches or relationships.