GEN Z / 2026 SURVEY RECEIPT← Main calculator
Gen Z dating statistics.
Read the denominator.
A nationally weighted survey of 1,133 U.S. Gen Z adults ages 18–29 found that 51% reported spending nothing on romantic dates in a typical month. That headline includes non-daters, so the rest of the receipt matters.
RUN THE CALCULATOR↓51%of full sample
of surveyed U.S. Gen Z adults reported $0 monthly dating spend
1,133 adults ages 18–29; online survey, nationally weighted, February 10–28, 2026; ±3 points.
DATE TAB / 2026BANK OF AMERICA + IPSOS
of Gen Z reported spending $0 a month on romantic dates.
That is a spending answer, not a count of active daters. In the same survey, 45% were single and not actively dating.
YOUR DATE TABMONTHLY → YEARLY
ONE YEAR$600
THE NEXT 14%Your answer falls in the survey’s $1–$50 monthly spending band.
Survey benchmark, not transaction data. Ipsos surveyed 1,133 U.S. Gen Z adults ages 18–29 online from February 10–28, 2026. Results were weighted to national benchmarks; margin of sampling error ±3 percentage points. Read the report ↗
THE SHORT ANSWER
What the number can—and cannot—say.
51% reported $0 in monthly dating spend
This is a self-reported monthly spending band from the full survey sample, not transaction data and not a statistic limited to people who went on a date that month. Men and women reported the same 51% figure.
45% were single and not actively dating
That separate status result helps explain why zero spend cannot be interpreted as a typical cost among active daters. Another 11% were single and actively dating, according to the report.
Money is part of relationship expectations
The survey reports that 74% considered financial responsibility important in a partner and 24% said finances had delayed relationship milestones. Those are attitudes and reported effects, not observed financial behavior.
COMMON FOLLOW-UPS
What percentage of Gen Z spends nothing on dates?
In the 2026 Bank of America and Ipsos survey, 51% of the full U.S. Gen Z sample ages 18–29 reported $0 in romantic-date spending in a typical month.
Does that mean half of active Gen Z daters spend nothing?
No. The survey sample included people who were not actively dating; 45% separately reported being single and not actively dating.
How was the Gen Z dating survey conducted?
Ipsos surveyed 1,133 U.S. adults ages 18–29 online from February 10–28, 2026. Results were weighted to national benchmarks, with a reported margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
POPULAR QUESTIONS
Search the claim. Check the receipt.
Plain-language answers for the dating-statistics questions people are already arguing about—each connected to the underlying calculator.