Inflation worries result in “date price” discussions online, as social media users react to a startling statistic: Millennials spend $252, on average, per day.
The figure, which CNBC reported on in April, appears BMO Financial Group’s 2026 BMO Real Financial Progress Index. Average “all-in” spending per day in America — including pre-date grooming and gas money, as well as the cost of the date itself — rose to $189, up 12.5% from last year, BMO found. “Date-Flation,” as the report calls it, far outstripped inflation at 2.7% over the same period.
Millennials reported the highest amount of spending per day and the biggest year-over-year increases, according to BMO’s year-over-year productivity data:
- Gen Z: $205, down from $194
- Millennials: $252, from $191
- Gen X: $173, down from $172
- Baby boomers: $126, down from $127
The bank polled 2,501 adults between late December and January.
Inflation has worsened since then. The consumer price index increased 3.8% year over year through April 2026, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics.
High costs have a negative impact on dating habits, say experts.
“We’re seeing that there’s this increase in the cost of living, and it’s reducing our frequency of dating and how we see or perceive dating,” Sabrina Romanoff, a clinical psychologist, told CNBC. “We’re seeing people eat fewer dinners and there’s a lower tolerance for high-risk meetings.”
Half of Americans who are dating or open to dating say they have gone on fewer dates or chosen less expensive jobs because of inflation or the high cost of living, BMO found. More than four in 10, 44%, said they changed or adjusted their day plans for financial reasons.
The number of dates is decreasing, too. The average American who took a day trip reported going out about 12 times last year, down from about 14 in 2025, BMO found.
Who pays if the days are so expensive?
Janina Steinmetz Digitalvision | Getty Images
High prices also complicate one of dating’s oldest questions: Who pays?
BMO found significant gender differences in early relationship expectations. Almost three out of four men, 71%, say they expect to pay for everything on the first date. Among women, 52% said they expected to split the costs equally, although 38% said they expected someone else to pay for everything.
Jess Carbino, a sociologist who has worked for Tinder and Bumble, told CNBC that economic uncertainty can make people look at traditional expectations.
“When we see times of uncertainty, especially economic uncertainty, we often see people relying on traditional gender roles to solve and try to deal with the uncertainty that exists at a given time and moment,” Carbino said.
Romanoff said social media can make those expectations extreme by feeding men and women different narratives about dating and money.
“Social media creates these echo chambers where men and women are taught completely different things about dating and money,” Romanoff said. “Algorithms, unfortunately, today reward resentment. Extreme financial courtship that is very divisive is rising to the top, and that’s what’s being reinforced right now.”
On the other hand, Romanoff said, some women encounter advice to accept expensive first dates only as proof of value or interest. On the other hand, he said that some men were told not to spend money at all on dates.
“Echo chambers, they denigrate the opposite sex, and they frame dating as a financial power struggle, rather than this relationship process where we both come together and get to know each other,” Romanoff said.
“We are really looking at love decreasing to fit people’s budgets,” he added.
