Being single is too expensive and stressful— but these women would still rather be alone
Women would rather accept the “singles tax” than couple up.
The “singles tax” — the higher costs that singles pay financially supporting themselves — recently rose to over $7,000, according to Zillow, but women would still rather be on their own.
A new study conducted by Qualtrics on behalf of Intuit Credit Karma found that while many single women admitted that the financial burden of being financially independent is a major cause of stress in their lives, they still prefer to be single.
“The makeup of women’s financial lives has shifted, likely due to a shift in economic factors, like housing affordability and the rising cost of higher education,” Courtney Alev, consumer financial advocate at Intuit Credit Karma, said in a statement.
“As a result, women are no longer solely focused on getting married and starting families, but instead focused on building their careers and prioritizing debt repayment.”
Nearly half (47%) of single women say that living on their single income is a major source of stress for them, especially as prices for nearly everything continue to rise.
More than a quarter (26%) of single women specifically admit that it’s too expensive to be single and 16% of coupled women say they’re with their partner because they financially support them.
About 35% of female singletons have a harder time affording basic necessities, like rent, groceries and other bills, compared to their coupled friends.
The financial burden has even pushed about 20% of single women to live at home with their parents or other relatives, compared to 7% of partnered women.
Beyond the basics, single ladies are struggling to afford certain activities, including vacations (50%), dining out (34%) and entertainment (27%).
But some girls just wanna have fun. Nearly one-in-10 (9%) single women have gone into debt — about 17% of single Gen Z women — trying to keep up with their friends.
Yet despite the price of being single, many women today aren’t seriously considering a monetary match.
Only about one-in-10 (13%) say they want a partner for their money and 65% of single women still believe they can achieve major financial milestones on their own.
Coupling up doesn’t seem to be the answer for all.
Nearly half (49%) of partnered women say being in a relationship enables them to save more money than if they were single, but 37% of women in relationships say being coupled up causes them to spend more money than if they were single.
While women may not be rushing into relationships for the cash, they do consider financial fitness a major green flag. It’s not necessarily about how much money you have, but how you manage it.
DatingAdvice.com commissioned the nationwide Propeller Insights survey of more than 1,200 single American adults, aged 18 to 42, and found that 42% of respondents admitted financial health is something they prioritize when seeking a potential partner.
And, for many, it’s not just something on their checklist, it’s the top marker. A survey from buy-now, pay-later company Affirm found that 51% of millennials see the ability to manage money as the most attractive trait a partner could have while 49% value financial stability.
As financial literacy and stability are turning people on, nearly a quarter of singles aren’t wasting their time trying to figure out what’s in the bank, and therefore, who’s getting in bed.
A survey from TD Bank found that 27% of all respondents said they discussed finances with a potential romantic partner before showing up on their first date.
And more than a third of Gen Zers and millennials say they would break up with their partner if they did not share the same money values as them (38% and 36%, respectively), according to a study from Intuit Credit Karma.
“It makes sense, especially in the context of the American financial landscape, that daters don’t want to fall for someone who would ultimately hold them back from their goals and aspirations,” Amber Brooks, editor-in-chief of DatingAdvice.com, previously told The Post.
“Daters have a lot of criteria to consider when looking for a partner, and it’s naive to say those decisions are all about lovey-dovey feelings and not about finances, even a little bit.”
