Solomaxxing: The Great Relationship Reset

More single Americans than ever are choosing to skip the search for a partner and take themselves out instead.

Quick Take

More than half of single adults say they are not looking for a relationship or even casual dates, according to Pew Research Center surveys.
Dating-industry research shows singles are slowing down, taking more time to know people before committing to romance.
Social media has turned solo dating into a named trend, with millions of views on ideas like “masterdating.”
Solo living has grown five times since the 1950s, showing this shift has deep roots, not just a TikTok moment.

What The Survey Numbers Actually Show

Pew Research Center found that 50% of single Americans were not looking for a relationship or dates at all. By 2023, that number climbed to 57%. These are not small samples or online polls. They are large, careful surveys that point to a real change in how single people spend their time and attention.

The Harris Poll’s newest Singles in America survey backs this up. It found 58% of Americans noticed more of their friends choosing to stay single on purpose. And 54% of singles said they would rather stay single than go looking for company. That is not a small dip in interest. That is a majority leaning toward solo life.

Slow Love Replaces The Rush To Pair Up

Match’s Singles in America research described a pattern it called “slow love.” Singles are spending more time getting to know someone before jumping into anything serious. In one survey, 58% of app daters said they had shifted toward more careful, intentional dating. And 63% said they now spend more time getting to know a potential partner before moving forward.

The Kinsey Institute’s 2025 study with Match described singles as “embracing emotional depth” and pushing back against old dating rules. That same research pointed to rising dating costs and growing use of screens and even artificial intelligence in how people meet and connect. Dating has gotten more expensive and more exhausting, and singles are adjusting how they spend their energy.

From Private Choice To Viral Trend

Solo dating did not stay a quiet personal habit. It became a hashtag. Women’s Health UK reported that the TikTok concept called “masterdating” pulled in 4.9 million views. Other outlets have covered self-dating as a growing wellness trend, with people treating a solo dinner or solo movie night the same way they would treat a date with someone else.

Newsweek covered one single woman who built a video series around what she called “romanticizing solo girl life.” She encouraged other single women to enjoy their own company instead of waiting on someone else to make life feel full. That message clearly struck a nerve, given how much traction similar content keeps getting online.

A Trend Built On A Much Older Shift

None of this happened overnight. Peter McGraw’s research on single living shows that 28% of American households are now solo. That is five times higher than it was back in the 1950s and 1960s. Living alone has gone from rare to common over two generations, which means solo dating fits into a much bigger story about how Americans build their lives.

Here is the part worth sitting with. Choosing independence, learning to enjoy your own company, and refusing to settle just to avoid being alone are not signs of a broken culture. They line up with values conservatives have long praised: self-reliance, patience, and not outsourcing your happiness to someone else. A person who can take themselves to dinner without flinching is a person who will not panic into a bad marriage.

That said, the surveys measuring this shift track who is single and who has stopped looking for love. They do not measure whether solo dates themselves make people happier or more confident. That distinction matters, but it does not change the basic fact that millions of adults are choosing solitude on purpose, and building a public culture around it.