Why the same filters land differently
It’s a fair thing to wonder why one list of standards can leave more men in one row and more women in the next. The 2024 Census records the calculator uses show it plainly for adults 25 to 34: among people not currently married, there are about 115 men for every 100 women. Add a bachelor’s degree to the list and that count drops to about 90. Add $100,000 in personal income instead and it rises to about 161, partly because more men than women in this age group report incomes that high.
How a degree changes the count with age
Picture every adult with a bachelor’s degree or more who is not currently married, sorted into rooms by age. In the 2024 survey, the room of 30- to 34-year-olds is the closest to even, at about 93 men for every 100 women, and the rooms after 40 lean further toward women. Women outnumber men in every room from 20 to 49. The table quietly leaves out everyone who is married, so its rooms look different from a plain count of graduates.
Who got counted
Age, sex, marital status, education, and income all come from the same 2024 American Community Survey person records, which the Census Bureau weights to represent U.S. adults. Height comes from men and women the CDC measured in health exams from August 2021 to August 2023. The two surveys counted different people, so when you add a height filter, the calculator treats height as unrelated to the Census filters within each age group.
Where the counting stopped
Not currently married includes people who are dating, engaged, or living with a partner, and the survey did not ask anyone whether they are looking. It also did not ask who anyone is attracted to, so both pools count every man and every woman in the age group. Read each row as a picture of the crowd, not a forecast for your own dating life.
How to compare your own list
Choose an age range, a state if you like, and the filters that matter to you. The calculator applies them to both pools at once and shows the men’s and women’s results next to each other. The filter comparison under the results shows how much each filter shrinks each pool, so you can see which one opens or closes the gap.
Compare locations
Choose a state to change the Census population. Height and health estimates remain national because the health surveys do not provide state-level values.
Shows the men’s result first.
Shows the women’s result first.
