Can Money Buy You Love? Income, Singlehood, and the Real Cost of Romantic Readiness
Wednesday, July 23, 2025.
Why Financial Stability Might Be the New Relationship Green Light
Is there a link between income and romantic intentions?
A new study in the Journal of Marriage and Family offers a compelling twist on the old adage: money can’t buy love, but it might increase your chances of starting a relationship.
Researchers Johanna Peetz and Geoff MacDonald found that single folks with higher incomes were significantly more likely to say they wanted a romantic partner, felt more emotionally and logistically ready to date, and were more likely to enter a relationship within the year.
But here’s the catch: they weren’t any happier being single than lower-income souls.
In short, income predicted relationship pursuit, but not satisfaction with solo life.
Why This Matters in a Culture of Rising Singlehood
With nearly 50% of U.S. adults now identifying as single (Pew Research Center, 2020), and one-person households the most common living arrangement in countries like Canada, the economics of dating have never been more relevant.
Yet, oddly enough, I’ve noticed that most research on money and relationships still focuses on couples—on how income affects marital satisfaction, financial stress, and divorce risk (Addo & Sassler, 2010; Dew, 2008).
I love how Peetz and MacDonald flipped the script.
They asked: How does money shape the relationship attitudes of single people? Is financial stability a silent prerequisite for re-entering the romantic marketplace?
Turns out, it just might be.
Two Countries. Two Cohorts. One Clear Pattern
Study 1 (United States)
Participants: 638 single adults, ages 25–35
Method: Initial survey + 6-month follow-up
Findings:
Higher income was strongly associated with:
Greater desire for a relationship.
Stronger readiness to date.
Increased odds of entering a romantic relationship.
Study 2 (Germany)
Data: Over a decade of longitudinal data from the German Family Panel
Sample size: 2,774 unique single participants
Findings:
Income predicted future relationship status.
Higher earners were more likely to find a partner within a year.
The effect was more pronounced for men than for women, though the difference was modest.
Together, these studies provide pretty robust evidence that financial resources influence dating behavior, especially during early adulthood—a period often marked by career instability, housing precarity, and student debt.
Single, Rich, and Restless? Not Quite
Despite what online dating apps might suggest, higher income didn’t equate to greater enjoyment of single life. Wealthier participants didn’t report more contentment, more independence, or more joy in their solo status.
Even after controlling for subjective financial stress, deprivation, and anxiety about money, income had no meaningful link to satisfaction with singlehood.
So, what’s going on?
Income Signals Readiness, Not Joy
Psychologist Geoff MacDonald puts it bluntly:
“Young people are making rational calculations in unstable economic conditions... They know they won’t enjoy a relationship if they’re working 80 hours a week or unsure where they’ll be living next year.”
In other words, income isn't about hedonism—it’s about feasibility. Dating, it seems, is a luxury of the stable.
And here’s another key nuance: Recent changes in income didn’t matter much. Whether someone got a raise or took a pay cut didn’t predict relationship changes. What mattered most was current income level, not financial trajectory.
Gender Differences in Financial Readiness
In the German sample, income had a stronger effect on men’s relationship pursuit than women’s, reflecting traditional gender norms around provisioning and dating “eligibility.” Social Role Theory suggests that men in many cultures are still evaluated based on financial capability, while women may be judged more on emotional or caregiving qualities (Eagly & Wood, 2012).
However, the gender gap was relatively modest—perhaps merely a sign that romantic economics are evolving.
What Is Relationship Readiness in 2025?
This study opens the door to a broader cultural question: What counts as being ready to date today? Is it:
Earning enough to split rent?
Owning a car or home?
Having a job with benefits and some PTO to spare for a weekend getaway?
In reality, “relationship readiness” may be less about income and more about what income enables—autonomy, predictability, and bandwidth for emotional intimacy.
Limitations: Correlation Isn’t Causation
To be clear, this study doesn’t claim that income causes people to fall in love. There could be third variables at play—personality, optimism, attachment style, or even cultural messaging about “deserving” partnership.
Also, the study was conducted in two Western, individualistic cultures. In societies where marriage is more intertwined with extended family, dowries, or religious tradition, the links between wealth and romantic intent might look considerably different (Karandashev, 2015).
Final Thought: The Real Price of Admission
This study raises a quietly urgent question: In the age of rising singlehood and economic insecurity, is love becoming another item on the list of things only the financially secure can afford?
If you can’t pay for the first date, a car to get there, or time off to emotionally connect—are you really “ready”?
And what does that say about the kind of relationships we’re building—or delaying?
Love may still be free.
But dating—like housing, healthcare, and therapy—might just be sorta paywalled by the harsh realities of adulthood itself.
Be Well, Stay Kind, and Godspeed.
REFERENCES:
Addo, F. R., & Sassler, S. (2010). Financial arrangements and relationship quality in low-income couples. Family Relations, 59(4), 408–423. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2010.00610.x
Dew, J. (2008). Debt change and marital satisfaction change in recently married couples. Family Relations, 57(1), 60–71. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2007.00483.x
Eagly, A. H., & Wood, W. (2012). Social role theory. In P. Van Lange, A. Kruglanski, & E. Higgins (Eds.), Handbook of Theories of Social Psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 458–476). SAGE Publications.
Karandashev, V. (2015). A cultural perspective on romantic love. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 5(4). https://doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1135
Luhmann, M., Hofmann, W., Eid, M., & Lucas, R. E. (2016). Subjective well-being and adaptation to life events: A meta-analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 112(3), 452–474. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000081
Peetz, J., & MacDonald, G. (2024). Making (Enough for) Love: The Association of Income and Relationship Readiness. Journal of Marriage and Family. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12913
Pew Research Center. (2020). The demographics of singlehood in America. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/08/20/the-demographics-of-singlehood-in-america/