How Couples Meet? Data from 1930 to 2024

The timeline of trends in how couples first met and got to know one another, from 1930 to 2024, is based on a nationally representative survey of American adults. The historical methods of meeting through family, church, neighborhood, and primary or secondary school have all been declining sharply since 1940. The rapid rise of couples meeting online corresponds with the introduction of the World Wide Web after 1995 and the adoption of smartphones after 2007.

The core of the data is based on a paper from Stanford University's Social Science Data and Software Social Science Data Collection.

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Hi, I'm Sasha.
I crunch numbers, play with data, and create cool visuals. If you enjoy my work, a little support can get me a coffee and a cookie for my baby girl, Eva.

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[DataIsBeautifulOfficial]

The turbulence of data in 2020 and 2021 was largely influenced by the global pandemic and the restrictions on freedom of movement during this period.

[libertycommentator]

I’ve never seen Internet Explorer go so fast before!

[titanfall]

Guess I need to switch to Internet Explorer

[leviathan]

In 25 years couples meeting via Internet grew from 3, 5% to 61%. Its crazy in which a short amount of time the internet changed our lifes forewer.

[loboeningles]

I matched with a woman on a dating app, and we grabbed lunch together. The next day, she told me I was a great guy but there wasn’t any chemistry. But, she thought I’d be perfect for her sister. So a few days later, I went on my first date with her sister. Eight months later, we got engaged, and this summer, we got hitched.

[discountinuedchannelarnaud]

Gotta pay respect to the 0.01% of couples who met online in 1981

[JamesMThayer]

Met my wife while hiking. She slipped while climbing a waterfall and I caught her :)

[poketopa]

I’m very surprised by the low percentage of folks who meet in school or college

[unjust]

Awesome, now I wanna know which one of those categories had relationships lasting the longest.

[davidwright]

While this graph shows how couples now meet, what it fails to tell you is the percentage of people actually entering into relationships has actually plummetted….namely due to the internet, ironically

[PabloGonzalez-hvtd]

People used to lie if they met on the internet as it was considered embarrassing.

[cahoros]

I had just played a concert at the local presidential library where he was a guest. He passed me in the halls and said, “If I could whistle, I would, ” which was his way of hitting on me. I laughed it off, we didn’t chat, and I went on with my day.

A few weeks later, he showed up at the rehearsal space as a new symphony member and introduced himself properly that night. Since then, we haven’t gone a day without talking. It’s been 17.5 years.

[StickToTheWallGuy]

Me and my girl met 2019 at church and its going great❤

[_UPRC]

I just sat here watching the whole video, staring at the bottom intently, and saying to myself, for it... for it!"

[dimalisovyk]

Omg. Percentage of online meets surprised me a lot. I expected it to be big, but not so much

[katarzynap.]

I met my husband in hospital in 1985, one day after I was born :) He was 8 and came to the hospital with his dad, my dad and my brothers to see me - our mums were best friends :D

[bridgecross]

Watching "In Bar" climb steadily through the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, then rapidly dropping around 1990. Yep.

[DarkManBeatzUrFace]

Feels boring meeting someone online id rather meet them in real life

[frn]

I tried online dating for about 13 years trying to find a relationship. Today I'm 38 years old and still single with no kids. You see a lot.

[flouserschird]

This video explains why I’m still single. Using 2012 mindsets and data in a 2024 world. 😢