Survey Says: The Age When Women Are Most Desirable on Dating Apps

Argh. As if we needed more proof that online dating and ageism go hand in hand. A new study published recently in the journal Science Advances found that online dating-site users spend most of their time trying to contact people out of their league—and women who are still in their teen years are considered most desirable. Eeewwww!

Researchers reviewed thousands of messages that were exchanged on a major free (unnamed) online-dating service between almost 200,000 straight men and women. The team found that men's sexual desirability peaks at age 50, but for women, it’s at its highest level at age 18 and falls off from there.

"The steepness of the desirability curve by age for women definitely surprised me, as did the fact that it declined steadily between ages 18 and 65," said Elizabeth Bruch, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Michigan and co-author of the report. "Other studies have shown that men prefer younger women, but our study laid out starkly the implications of these preferences for market position."