The most recent data breach involved the dating app Heyyo in 2019 and exposed the data of nearly 72,000 users. Here are some more statistics that expose the dark side of online dating: 45% of American online dating users say that the experience has left them feeling frustrated. With over 6.5 million monthly downloads in May 2021, Tinder is the most downloaded dating application in the world. First released in April 2012, the American company introduced the swiping model. Available in 190 countries, it's the most popular dating app in the US. If you live in a large city, the potential dating pool is huge – the app claims to produce 26 million matches every day. Because Tinder is location based and 76% of users live in urban areas, your odds of finding a match significantly decrease in smaller, rural cities.

Feb 9, 2017 Share
Brand Guides

Which Online Love Connection is Your State Falling for?

Love is in the air and it’s apparent online, where an increasing number of singles find their next date virtually. Cupid’s arrows hit the target in online dating apps, which have seen triple the users in recent years. At highspeedinternet.com, we wanted to speculate about which platforms get used most often to find partners in each state, and if any patterns emerged in our collective search for the perfect match. What did our quest for dating data uncover? Niche apps that focus on demographic factors like religion, gender, or lifestyle are on the rise and trending heavily in certain parts of the country. We expected to see wide areas of Tinder country, where swiping right is part of the single life. And it’s true that Tinder peppers our map from sea to shining sea. But the unexpected winner of our virtual lonely hearts club? Christian Mingle, a faith-based dating site, dominates the Bible Belt. Unfortunately, experts have long observed that higher divorce rates also reign across the same sections of country, so perhaps Christians are mingling a little too much. Ahem. To identify the most popular dating app, we utilized Google Trends data and isolated apps and sites that had statistically significant popularity in each state.

STATE	DATING APP	DESCRIPTION
Alabama	Christian Mingle	Faith-Based Profile Matching
Alaska	Tinder	Gamified Dating App
Arizona	Tinder	Gamified Dating App
Arkansas	Farmer’s Only	Rural focused dating
California	Coffee Meets Bagel	Ladies choice dating
Colorado	eHarmony	Traditional Profile Match Site
Connecticut	Match.com	Dating community
Delaware	eHarmony	Traditional Profile Match Site
DC	Hinge	FB friends Dating App
Florida	Senior People Meet	Senior-focused dating
Georgia	Christian Mingle	Faith-Based Profile Matching
Hawaii	Grindr	Gay dating app
Idaho	Farmer’s Only	Rural focused dating
Illinois	Tinder	Gamified Dating App
Indiana	Grindr	Gay dating app
Iowa	Farmer’s Only	Rural focused dating
Kansas	Christian Mingle	Faith-Based Profile Matching
Kentucky	Christian Mingle	Faith-Based Profile Matching
Louisiana	Cougar Life	Older women focused dating
Maine	Tinder	Gamified Dating App
Maryland	eHarmony	Traditional Profile Match Site
Massachusetts	Senior People Meet	Senior-focused dating
Michigan	Tinder	Gamified Dating App
Minnesota	eHarmony	Traditional Profile Match Site
Mississippi	Lulu	Women centric dating
Missouri	Christian Mingle	Faith-Based Profile Matching
Montana	Plenty of Fish	Traditional Profile Match Site
Nebraska	Farmer’s Only	Rural focused dating
Nevada	Grindr	Gay dating app
New Hampshire	Match.com	Dating community
New Jersey	Bumble	Women first dating
New Mexico	Grindr	Gay dating app
New York	Happn	Location based dating
North Carolina	Christian Mingle	Faith-Based Profile Matching
North Dakota	Match.com	Dating community
Ohio	Tinder	Gamified Dating App
Oklahoma	Farmer’s Only	Rural focused dating
Oregon	Down	Casual dating
Pennsylvania	Down	Casual dating
Rhode Island	Tinder	Gamified Dating App
South Carolina	Christian Mingle	Faith-Based Profile Matching
South Dakota	Match.com	Dating community
Tennessee	Christian Mingle	Faith-Based Profile Matching
Texas	Down	Casual dating
Utah	LDS Singles	Dating for Mormons
Vermont	OKCupid	Traditional Profile Match Site
Virginia	Down	Casual dating
Washington	Tinder	Gamified Dating App
West Virginia	Farmer’s Only	Rural focused dating
Wisconsin	Match.com	Dating community
Wyoming	Zoosk	International Dating App

Let’s do a deep dive into the data, shall we? We’ll determine exactly what the state of dating is in the United States and which apps have a little something more to say about the state that loves them.

Regional Romance

What’s trending across particular parts of the country? Take a look at what each region is head over heels for.

• The South is way into Christian Mingle, choosing to keep the faith in online romance.
• Western parts of the United States are down with more casual hook-ups like Grindr, Down, and Tinder.
• The Northeast kicks it old-school with traditional profile sites like eHarmony, com, OK Cupid.
• Midwest states keep it in the country by dating with Farmer’s Only.

Church Connections

The more heavily religious an area is, the more likely the favored darting app is to be affiliated with religion.

• All across the Bible Belt, Christians can’t resist getting together with Christian Mingle.
• Mormon couples opt to find the perfect connection in Utah with LDS Singles.

As you go west, however, and the non-religious population grows, religiously-affiliated dating gets jilted. You won’t find a single state that prefers to mingle the Christian way beyond the Rockies.

It’s all About the Ladies

Lots of recent, trendy dating apps focus on women for a reason. Most of them are popular in states with some serious girl power going on.

Dating Apps Best

• As one of the states with the top 5 best paid leave and wage equality ratings in the U.S., New Jersey knows that ladies’ choice Bumble is the only way to find a sweetie.
• Mississippi women, who have the highest percentage of registered women voters in the country, know what they want and they aren’t afraid to ask LuLu for it.
• Louisiana ladies are living the Cougar Life with the second highest percentage of registered women voters.
• With some of the friendliest paid leave policies and a smaller than average wage gap, it’s no surprise that California is hungry for Coffee Meets Bagel.

A Few Other Favorite Findings

Dating App With Most Users

• Wyoming cruises the dating scene with Zoosk, an international dating app. While Wyoming still has a fairly low immigrant population, it’s seen one of the largest rates of immigration growth in the US, up 33% from 2000–2011.
• D.C. is all about who you know (nudge, nudge. wink, wink), so it’s no surprise their favorite app, Hinge, makes connections between Facebook friends.
• Montana is a renowned fishing locale, and their obsession with Plenty of Fish is no secret.
• With one of the top 5 oldest median ages in the United States, Florida’s residents definitely need Senior People Meet. But the oldest median age in the U.S. by far? Maine, who is still setting romance on fire with Tinder. Keep on with your bad self, Mainers. Age is just a number.

Does your state’s dating app obsession seem like the perfect match? Share our map and discuss. But no fighting, kids. Only love. Sweet, sweet love.

Author - HSI Staff

Kaz is a writer, blogger and social media junkie. She uses her tenacity to investigate the best of the Internets.

Dating App That Has The Most Users