Half of all Americans who have ever used an online dating site or app say they have been in a committed relationship with someone they met through that platform, according to a new national poll that also found overall dating app use sitting at a modest level across the adult population.
A snapshot of who is swiping
The findings come from an SSRS Opinion Panel Omnibus poll conducted January 2, 4 and 16, 20, 2026, among a nationally representative sample of 2,012 adults aged 18 and older.
The poll, released by SSRS under the title The Public and Online Dating 2026, offers a national benchmark on how Americans are using and experiencing these platforms.
The survey found that 37% of U.S. adults have used an online dating site or app at some point in their lives, and that 6% are currently using one.
That active-user figure sits well below the cultural prominence of the category, consistent with a broader pattern in which fewer adults report currently using the platforms than have ever used them.
About half of adults aged 18, 29 (51%) and 30, 49 (53%) have used online dating sites or apps, compared with 20% of adults aged 50 or older.
Those younger age groups are also more likely to be current users: 10% of 18, 29-year-olds and 8% of 30, 49-year-olds, compared with just 2% of adults 50 and older.
Committed relationships and the outcome gap
Half (50%) of adults who have ever used an online dating site or app report that they have at some point been in a committed relationship with someone they met through such a platform.
That figure coexists with broader survey research on adult social connection, which has documented a general thinning of close relationships in recent years, making the app-to-commitment pipeline consequential as one of the remaining venues where new bonds can form.
More than six in ten LGBTQIA+ adults (63%) report having used online dating sites or apps, including 14% who are current users, compared with 34% of non-LGBTQIA+ adults, of whom just 4% are current users.
LGBTQIA+ users are less likely than non-LGBTQIA+ users (49% to 62%) to cite finding an exclusive romantic partner as their main reason for using the apps, though that goal remains the top reason cited by both groups.
Mixed feelings on impact and safety
When asked what type of effect online dating sites or apps have had on their dating and relationships, nearly half of those who have ever used such platforms say the effect was neither positive nor negative (47%). About one-third (33%) say the effect has been mostly positive and 20% say it has been mostly negative.
Across all major demographic groups, the most common answer is the neutral one.
That ambivalence coexists with cautious safety perceptions. A majority of adults nationally say that meeting in person someone you first encountered on a dating site or app is generally safe (57%), though only 5% consider it very safe.
Safety concerns weigh more heavily on women than men, consistent with findings from prior SSRS waves on the same question.
The pattern of lukewarm sentiment and modest current-use numbers does not mean the platforms are without social effect. According to Pew Research, about 10% of all partnered adults in the U.S. met their current partner on a dating site or app, a figure that rises to 20% for partnered adults under 30.
According to The Knot’s 2025 Real Weddings Study, roughly 27% of couples who married in 2025 first connected through a dating site or app. The study captured responses from 16,956 U.S. couples married between January 1 and December 31, 2024.
What the numbers suggest about modern matchmaking
Taken together, the SSRS data point to a dating-app landscape in which current use remains modest, yet those who have used the platforms report concrete relational outcomes.
That dynamic mirrors what analysts have observed on the business side of the category. Tinder’s revenue per payer rose 5% year-over-year to $17.63 in the fourth quarter of 2025, even as the number of paying users fell 8% to 8.8 million, a pattern consistent with maturing software markets that extract more value from a smaller but more committed base.
For the wider population, the data add texture to what survey research on relationship satisfaction has consistently shown: that how couples meet matters less than what they do once they are together.
The SSRS poll was conducted on the SSRS Opinion Panel Omnibus among 2,012 respondents aged 18 and older, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
