Millennials and Gen Zers have been saying for a while modern dating isn’t worth it because of what dating apps became after their height in popularity a few years ago. But now they say it’s literally not worth the cost as the cost of an average night out has skyrocketed.
The average “all-in” cost of a date in the U.S. (dinner, drinks, transportation, and even pre-date grooming) has climbed to $189, up 12.5% from $168 a year earlier, according to Bank of Montreal’s (BMO) 2026 Real Financial Progress Index published in February. Daters now spend an average of $2,323 a year going out, even as they go on fewer dates: about 12 in the past year, down from roughly 14 in 2025, the survey found.
So for a growing share of American singles, the dating math just isn’t mathing.
Now nearly half of single Americans (47%) say dating is no longer financially worth it, BMO reported. Another survey published in April by financial services firm JG Wentworth also shows an overwhelming majority of U.S. singles (86%) say money concerns have forced them to delay dating or reenter the dating pool.
The K-shaped dating economy
Paul Dilda, BMO’s head of U.S. consumer strategy, said this is causing a K-shaped dating economy to emerge.
“At one end, people are slashing dating expenses entirely, either by skipping date night or by swapping the restaurant for a home-cooked meal and the movie tickets for popcorn on the couch,” Dilda said in a statement. “On the other, some are deciding an expensive date is worth the dent in their wallets.”
The share of singles who were surveyed by BMO who say a typical date now costs them $300 or more has risen to 14%, from 11% in 2025, while the share who spend nothing at all has also ticked up to 14%.
The squeeze is sharpest among the people who do most of the dating. Millennials now spend $252 per outing on average, a 32% jump from 2025, according to BMO. Gen Z reports spending $205, up from $194. Half of Gen Z respondents and 40% of millennials said the cost of dating is getting in the way of their financial goals.
What a $200 date actually looks like
The numbers track with what daters in major cities are paying. A first date for two at a typical OpenTable-listed sit-down restaurant in New York City including one shared starter, two entrées, and two cocktails, runs an average of $122 before tax and tip, according to a recent study of more than 500 restaurants by Mandoe Media.
Add the city’s 8.875% sales tax and a 20% gratuity, and the bill climbs to roughly $157 before any after-dinner drinks or a ride home. Washington, D.C., Denver, and San Francisco all came in at more than $117, according to the analysis.
“Dating used to be something that happened occasionally. In the app era, for a lot of people, it’s weekly,” Paul Madden, a Mandoe Media spokesperson, told NY Weekly. “The city you live in has quietly become a real line item in a single person’s budget, and almost nobody thinks of it that way.”
And that’s just for a nice dinner out. Even what were once seen as lower-cost date options like going to the movies have now become more expensive. A movie ticket in New York averages $23.10, according to data compiled by CableTV.com. Meanwhile, dating-app subscriptions add up. A user with Tinder Gold, Bumble Premium, and Hinge+ pays almost $96 per month, or more than $1,150 a year, before boosts or super likes.
Due to these high costs, more than 82% of JG Wentworth respondents said they had taken on credit-card or buy-now-pay-later debt because of dating expenses, and 89% had suggested a cheaper date because they couldn’t afford a pricier one. Asked how they’d respond to a date that cost $100 or more, 39.3% said they would “most likely decline.”
Inflation is reshaping how Americans spend
The pullback on dating mirrors a broader resentment toward inflation and consumers paring back discretionary spending. The Consumer Price Index rose 3.3% in March, the highest annual reading since May 2024, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported, and restaurant prices alone are up almost 40% since early 2019, according to S&P Global.
The University of Michigan’s Index of Consumer Sentiment to 47.6 in preliminary April 2026 readings, its lowest reading in the survey’s 74-year history.
Deloitte’s most recent consumer outlook also found low- and middle-income households are “more price-sensitive and exercising greater caution in spending on nonessentials,” a category that would include going out on dates.
A continuation of a longer pullback on dating
While inflation has pushed many U.S. singles over the edge, they had already been pulling back on dating for a couple of years now.
More than half of Gen Z adults reported spending $0 a month on dating in a 2025 Bank of America Better Money Habits survey.
Ilana Dunn, a former Hinge content lead who now hosts the Seeing Other People podcast, previously told Fortune dating apps won’t make a comeback unless they push users into in-person activations and events. That’s a shift that, intentionally or not, also lets daters skip the cost of a sit-down dinner with a stranger they’ve never met.
Even Match Group CEO Spencer Rascoff recognizes how younger generations want to approach dating today.
“Gen Z wants to vibe their way through meeting people,” he said last year, adding the apps had come to feel like “a numbers game prioritizing metrics over experience.”
“This leaves “people with the false impression that we prioritize metrics over experience,” Rascoff wrote in a LinkedIn letter last year. “That needs to change.”
For now, BMO’s Dilda argued, the way through the cost crunch is less about the size of the date and more about who you’re choosing to share your time with.
“With a dating budget and open financial communication with their partner,” he said, “Americans can keep the spark alive without setting flames to their budget.”
