More Singles Are Deciding They Like Life Without A Partner

For years, being single was treated like an unfinished chapter. Find someone, settle down, and move on to the next milestone.

New research suggests a surprising number of Americans are no longer waiting for that chapter to begin. One in four single adults say they would stay single even if their “perfect match” appeared tomorrow, suggesting that romance may no longer be viewed as essential to a satisfying life.

A Quarter Of Singles Would Turn Down Their Perfect Match

The figure comes from the fifteenth annual Singles in America survey, released by the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University. The survey collected responses from nearly 5,000 unpartnered American adults between 18 and 93 and asked what they would do if their perfect romantic match suddenly appeared.

About 45.7% said they would want to date that person immediately, while another 29% were unsure. Then came the surprising number: 25.3% said they would stay single, meaning roughly one in every four respondents would choose the life they already have.

The well-being figures offer some clues about that decision. Compared with their previous relationships, 52.4% said they were happier being single, while 54.5% reported less stress and 50.6% said they felt more confident. Only 4.8% said their situation was much worse.

Many Singles Have Stopped Actively Looking

The dating pause becomes even more striking when you look at how frequently people are actually meeting potential partners. Nearly 48% of respondents had not gone on a single in-person date during the previous year, while another 11.1% had been on exactly one.

Only 16.3% described themselves as actively looking for a committed relationship. Almost 45% said they were not looking but would remain open if the right person appeared, while around one-third had been single for five years or longer.

Another 10.5% said they had never had a romantic partner. Taken together, the figures suggest that partnership may no longer be treated as an automatic requirement for a successful adult life.

People Still Want Love, Just On Different Terms

There is an important twist in the data because interest in commitment has not disappeared. Interest in marriage has climbed from 33% in 2010 to 45% in 2026, while around 30% said they wanted a long-term commitment without getting married.

Economic pressure may also be influencing some singles. About 52% said the economy had made them more interested in finding a partner, compared with 27% in 2013.

What people want from a partner appears to be changing as well. The survey found that 39% valued having someone they could trust and confide in, while 28% identified emotional maturity as an important quality.

Amanda Gesselman of the Kinsey Institute described the shift in the survey’s findings. “The milestones that used to define a relationship in our society have become less essential,” Gesselman said, adding that singles are placing more value on the kind of person they want as a partner and are becoming more open to individualized futures.

The Survey Comes With An Important Caveat

The findings are interesting, but the source of the research deserves some attention. Singles in America is funded by Match Group, the company behind several major dating platforms, and Match announced the study shortly before Indiana University published its own release.

That does not invalidate the findings, but it is worth considering when interpreting the way the results are presented. A dating company has an obvious commercial interest in relationships, even though a finding showing that a quarter of singles would reject their perfect match is hardly an obvious promotional result.

The survey also relies on self-reported answers collected at one point in time. It can show how people describe their lives and feelings, but it cannot establish that being single directly causes greater happiness, lower stress, or confidence.

Another number complicates the idea that singles are permanently walking away from romance. The proportion saying they do not want a relationship at all has fallen to 24%, down from 32% in 2021, meaning fewer people appear to be completely closing the door on relationships.

The Psychology Behind Choosing Singlehood

Research by Elina Moreno and Yuthika Girme offers another piece of the puzzle. Their paper, “Riding Solo,” examined three preregistered studies involving roughly 600 single participants and focused on what they called singlehood self-expansion potential.

The basic idea is that some people see single life as a period when they can grow, pursue interests, develop skills, travel, focus on careers, or strengthen relationships outside romance. Other people can experience the same situation as something they are stuck with, which appears to produce a very different experience.

Moreno explained that some single people maintain their status because it gives them “the autonomy and freedom to focus on personal goals, like hobbies, their career and travel.” Participants who saw greater potential in singlehood reported higher life satisfaction, stronger feelings of autonomy and competence, and less fear of being single.

The length of time someone had been single was not the key factor in the research. Instead, the way participants understood their singlehood appeared to be closely connected with how positively they experienced it.

Single Does Not Mean Alone

One of the most interesting findings from Moreno’s research challenges the familiar image of single people living isolated lives. When researchers examined the experiences connected with personal growth, roughly four out of five happened with friends and family, while only about one-fifth occurred in solitude.

That suggests singlehood can involve a broad social network rather than a lack of meaningful connection. Someone can have no romantic partner while maintaining close friendships, family relationships, hobbies, professional connections, and communities.

The distinction matters because romantic partnership is only one form of human connection. For some people, building a life around several meaningful relationships may feel more fulfilling than expecting one partner to provide every kind of companionship.

Even Happy Singles Sometimes Want Someone Else

Nearly 61% of people in the Kinsey survey agreed that they sometimes wished they did not have to be so independent. That figure sits beside the lower stress and greater confidence reported by many respondents, revealing that contentment and loneliness can exist at the same time.

Someone can genuinely enjoy independence while still wishing there were another person to share certain responsibilities with. They can value their freedom and still occasionally get tired of carrying everything themselves.

Romance has not lost its appeal, either. Around 62% said they believed in love at first sight, up from 41% in 2010, while nearly half said they had fallen for someone they were not initially attracted to.

Justin Garcia of the Kinsey Institute described that tension in the survey’s findings. “There’s an interesting tension in the data: singles today have clear expectations for a partner, but love still has the ability to surprise them,” Garcia said, adding that knowing what matters to you does not necessarily mean knowing exactly who you will fall for.

The New Question Is What A Relationship Adds

The old question for a single person was often simple: Why are you still single? The emerging question may be more revealing: What would a relationship add to the life you already have?

That shift changes the stakes because a person who is unhappy and wants a partner may see finding love as an important goal. Someone who is content, connected, and building a life they enjoy may have less reason to treat singlehood as a problem that needs fixing.

The research does not show that people have stopped wanting love. Instead, it points toward a culture where romance increasingly has to fit into a life that already has meaning, connection, and purpose.

For some singles, the perfect match may still be irresistible. For others, even the perfect match would have to offer something worth changing a life they already like.