The number of unpartnered adults in the U.S. falls for the first time this year

Is the single season over?

The number of unpartnered adults – either single, living with a partner or in a committed relationship – fell for the first time in almost 20 years. This is great news for men’s wallets.

The latest Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data shows that about 42% of adults will be without a partner in 2023, down from a peak of 44% in 2019.

Meanwhile, from 2019 to 2023, the share of married adults increased slightly from 50% to 51%, and the share of adults living with an unmarried partner also increased from 6% to 7%.

“The single rate has peaked,” Dr. Richard Fry, the labor economist who conducted the survey, told CBS News.

But this does not mean that more and more people are getting married.

Marriage rates have remained stable, but divorce rates peaked at 2% in 2012 and fell to a record low of 1.4% in 2023.

“In my practice over the past decade, I’ve noticed a gradual shift from ‘romantic marriage’ to ‘companionship marriage,’ meaning that people are increasingly choosing marriages that are more like best friends than passionate partners at the outset Spouses,” Ian Kerner, a licensed marriage and family therapist, told CNN of the reasons for the drop in divorce rates.

But who is still sitting at a table?

The likelihood of losing a partner varies by race, education and place of birth.

About 61% of black adults are unpartnered, compared with 45% of Hispanic adults, 38% of white adults and 35% of Asian adults.

Meanwhile, those who had at least a bachelor’s degree and were born in the United States were more likely to be unpartnered.

Men under the age of 40 are more likely to lose their partner than women of the same age. But once the score hits 4-0, women are more likely to be without a partner, with 51% of women aged 65 and over being single, compared with just 29% of men in the same age group.

They agreed.

A recent study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science found that women, it turns out, are more likely to fly solo than men.

To every question, single women responded that they were more satisfied with their lives than single men. They are happier alone, less likely to want a significant other, more sexually satisfied, and overall more satisfied.

Experts say single men “benefit more from a partner than single women.”

“From a purely economic perspective, partnered adults appear to be better off financially,” Fry noted. This is especially true for men.

Only about 64% of unmarried adults say their financial situation is at least good, compared with 77% of partnered adults. But men’s financial situation is even worse when they live alone, with single men being much less likely to be employed than their partnered counterparts.

“Financially successful men make more attractive partners, but marriage also makes them ‘more successful at work,'” Frye said.

“Men are more productive if they get married.”