Age Gap Relationships: Dating Data Reveals the Truth About Our Preferences

When it comes to dating, a few topics divide opinions like age gaps.

While some of us like the idea of dating someone in a different age bracket, others have the complete opposite reaction. And that’s before we get to the whole question of older or younger…

Of course, there are plenty of stereotypes about age gap relationships, many of them along gender lines. But are they true? After all, it isn’t hard to think of couples who buck the trends (just look at Cher, for example).

So what is the truth? To find out, we collated data on 1 million anonymized ‘likes’ from our users to see what they say about age disparity in relationships.

Here’s what the data reveals:

• Gen Z males are the most likely to want to date within their age bracket, with 41% of likes going to someone within 3 years of their age.
• Millennial males are the most likely to prefer slightly younger partners, with 35% preferring an age gap of 4-9 years.
• Gen X males show an obvious bias towards younger women, with 86% of their likes going to Millennial or Gen Z women.
• Gen Z women are divided between dating within their age group (26%) and preferring older men (38%).
• Millennial women are the most open to international generational relationships, with dating someone more than a decade older than them.
• 46% of Gen X women are open to dating a man younger than them.

Generation Profile: Gen Z

As the first true digital natives, Gen Z took to dating apps like fishes to water. But what can we learn from their dating app statistics?

Given their younger age, it’s perhaps inevitable that this generation is the most likely to want to date within their own age bracket, with 41% of men and 26% of women liking profiles within 3 years of their own age.

However, both men and women are open to the idea of dating someone older, with the genders divided on just how big that gap should be.

For example, while 34% of Gen Z males are happy to date someone 4-7 years older, only 12% would go for someone 10 years older. Gen Z women on the other hand are open to a larger gap, with 38% of likes going to profiles more than a decade older.

Generation Profile: Millennials

Compared to Gen Z, Millennials show more of a gender divide when it comes to age gap dating and intergenerational relationships.

For example, while men reveal a strong preference for younger women, with 67% of likes going to such profiles, women lean the other way, with a 51% preference for older partners.

Generation Profile: Gen X

When it comes to online dating, Gen X likes to think they’ve seen it all: from the first matchmaking websites to the new generation of quickfire apps.

This might explain why Gen X men appear to know exactly what they’re looking for on Flirtini, with 86% of their likes going to profiles aged at least ten years younger than them.

By contrast, Gen X women are much more open-minded on relationship dynamics, with a 46%-to-36% split between younger and older profiles. Still, the single most popular answer is for a larger age gap, with 34% liking profiles more than ten years younger.

Generation Profile: Boomers

Boomers tend to get a rough ride on social media these days. But the fact remains that they drive a lot of internet traffic – and dating apps are no exception.

So what are the older folks up to on Flirtini? It turns out they have pretty clear intentions, with 95% of their likes going to profiles who are at least ten years younger than them.

Perhaps there’s a split between the 5% looking for someone closer to the same age (let’s call them the romance seekers) and the larger contingent of users looking for something more… casual.

Of course, it’s impossible to say for sure. But the data certainly suggests there’s an interesting story hidden in those numbers.

Methodology:

This research was conducted by Flirtini’s team of researchers and data analysts who collated data on 1 million anonymized ‘likes’ from Flirtini dating app users to see their age preferences in relationships (“who likes whom”).

The team analyzed the ‘likes’ of the following generations: Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers.

The data was collected in June-July 2024.