Being single
Why am I still single at 30?
You are not behind. Close to half of 30-year-old men have no partner either, and Americans now marry for the first time later than ever.
The question usually turns up after a wedding, a baby announcement or a family dinner. The numbers say you are not behind. You are right in the middle of a very large group.
About half of 30-year-old men are single too
Census data shows how many men have no wife and no live-in partner at each age. At 30 it's between 44% and 52% in every country we cover.
| Country | No partner at 30 | At 35 | At 40 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 46% | 35% | 25% |
| United States | 47% | 34% | 29% |
| Canada | 52% | 35% | 29% |
| New Zealand | 44% | 29% | 24% |
| United Kingdom | 44% | 31% | 27% |
The share keeps falling through the 30s, so the pool does get smaller. But at 35 about one man in three still has no partner, and at 40 it's about one in four.
Everyone is pairing up later
In the United States the median age at first marriage reached 30.8 for men and 28.8 for women in 2024, the highest since the Census Bureau's American Community Survey started measuring it in 2008. For men, being unmarried at 30 is now the norm: more than half of American men haven't married by then.
Younger men are even more likely to be single. In a 2022 survey, Pew Research Center found that 63% of American men under 30 described themselves as single, compared with 34% of women the same age. One likely reason for the gap is that women tend to date slightly older men. So at 30, many of your options are men in their early-to-mid 30s, and lots of them are still single.
The real filter might be your list
The meter's "Realistic" list asks for a single or divorced straight man with no criminal record, aged 27 to 37, lean to average build, at least 5'9" (175 cm), earning at least 80,000 a year in local currency. That sounds modest. Here is how many men it leaves.
| Country | Men who fit | Odds among men 18–55 |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 52,500 | 1 in 137 |
| United States | 461,000 | 1 in 182 |
| Canada | 72,800 | 1 in 148 |
| New Zealand | 7,660 | 1 in 175 |
| United Kingdom | 22,300 | 1 in 748 |
Each rule on its own is reasonable. Stacked together they keep about one man in 140 to 180 in Australia, the US, Canada and New Zealand, and about one in 750 in the UK, where £80,000 is a high salary. That's still tens of thousands of men in most countries. They're just spread thin. See which dealbreaker costs you the most men.
What actually moves the number
- Widen the age range a little. Going from 27–37 to 24–42 adds about 60% more men to the Realistic list in Australia.
- Be where couples meet. In a nationally representative 2017 survey, about 39% of heterosexual couples had met online, more than any other way.
- Look where the single men are. The share of men in their 30s who are single changes a lot by state and region. See the best places to find a single man in his 30s.
"No partner" means not married and not living with a partner. Census data can't see a boyfriend who lives elsewhere, so some of these men are dating someone.
Run your own list on the meter
Estimates come from the same model as the meter: official population, census, health-survey and tax data for each country, combined age by age. Filters are treated as independent within each age, so treat the results as estimates, not a head count. The full method and sources are under "How it's calculated" on the meter.