Money Is Making Singles Want a Partner. That's Worth Noticing

In 2013, 27% of single Americans said economic worries made them more interested in finding a partner. In 2026 it's 52%. That's from the Kinsey Institute's Singles in America survey, released in September.

The same survey found 54% of singles stressed about the economy and their finances, and 56% saying more money would make them happier. Half said financial stability shapes whether they'll have children.

So more people are looking for love, and more of them are also looking for safety. I spent two years on what happens when those two searches become one.

The feeling and the life

One woman I interviewed for Become My Papi fell for a much richer man. She told me she didn't want his things. She wanted the feeling of a life with fewer locked doors, where nobody did arithmetic in the pharmacy. I wrote in my notebook that the difference between the life and the feeling would matter later. It did. Her story is in Quit Your Job, I'll Take Care of You.

Wanting financial safety from a partner isn't shallow. When rent is high and work is uncertain, it's rational. But safety you borrow from someone else's income isn't quite yours. It can be generous and still come with terms nobody has written down.

A small sign of hope

The survey had another finding. 56% of singles would date someone with a different approach to money, up from 49% in 2019. People are becoming more flexible about how a partner handles money, even as money worries them more.

That fits what I heard from women who had dated very rich men. They rarely remembered the amount. They remembered what the money said about him: whether he was generous with attention, how he treated a waiter, whether a gift came with an invoice. More in What the Wallet Actually Signals and Expensive Isn't Generous.

If money is part of why you're looking

• Be honest with yourself about it. It isn't a confession.
• Notice whether you're drawn to the person or to the calm.
• Ask early how they think about shared money, not only how much they have.
• Keep something that is yours: savings, a pension, a skill, a job.

Young men are feeling this from the other side. 58% say money keeps them from dating at all, which I wrote about in The Dating Recession. The question at the centre of Become My Papi is the one this survey keeps circling: if you take away his money, what is left that a woman would still want?

Source: Kinsey Institute at Indiana University and Match, Singles in America 2026, about 5,000 US single adults, released 14 September 2026.

Questions people ask

Are people dating for financial security?

More are. In the 2026 Singles in America survey, 52% of singles said economic concerns made them more interested in finding a partner, up from 27% in 2013.

Is it wrong to want a partner with money?

Not necessarily. It can be rational. The risk is building a life on resources that aren't yours, so keep savings, a job or a pension of your own.

Do singles care about how a partner handles money?

They are becoming more flexible: 56% would date someone with a different approach to finances, up from 49% in 2019.