Pew Research Center — A profile of single Americans

What the study found

This Pew Research Center analysis of a relationships survey, reported in August 2020, measured how many US adults were single under a consistent definition. It found a wide gap among young adults: 51% of men ages 18 to 29 were single, compared with 32% of women in that age group — a difference of about 19 percentage points — while roughly 31% of all US adults were single overall. The pattern reversed later in life, with women most likely to be unpartnered in older age and about half of women 65 and older single. ^[1]

Why it matters here

Manosphere commentary frequently cites the share of young men who are single as evidence of a worsening "dating crisis" for men. This Pew analysis is a source for that discussion because it documents a real, sizeable gap between young men and young women in being single, using survey data rather than anecdote. At the same time, its headline figure for young men is 51% rather than the higher numbers sometimes quoted, and being "single" here covers anyone not married or in a committed relationship rather than involuntary loneliness. It is cited on are 63% of young men single? as a baseline for what the survey evidence actually shows.