Millennials spend $252 on an average date, BMO finds — and social media is spiraling over 'date-flation'
watch now Inflation concerns are spilling into "date-flation" discussions online, as social media users react to a surprising stat: Millennials spend $252, on average, for
watch now Inflation concerns are spilling into "date-flation" discussions online, as social media users react to a surprising stat: Millennials spend $252, on average, for a date. The figure, which CNBC reported on in April, comes from BMO Financial Group's 2026 BMO Real Financial Progress Index. The average "all-in" spend on a date in America — including pre-date grooming and gas money, as well as the cost of the date itself — has climbed to $189, up 12.5% from last year, BMO found. "Date-flation," as the report dubbed it, far outpaced the 2.7% inflation rise over the same period. Millennials reported the highest average cost per date and the largest year-over-year increase, according to BMO's year-over-year generational data: Gen Z: $205, up from $194 Millennials: $252, up from $191 Gen $173, up from $172 Baby boomers: $126, down from $127 The bank polled 2,501 adults in late December through January.
Inflation has worsened since then. The consumer price index rose 3.8% year over year in April 2026, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics reading. Higher costs are having a ripple effect on dating habits, experts say. "We're seeing that there is this increased cost of living, and it's lowering our dating frequency and how we're seeing or perceiving dating," Sabrina Romanoff, a clinical psychologist, told CNBC. "We're seeing people have fewer dinners out and there's a lower tolerance for higher-risk meetups." Half of Americans who date or are open to dating said they have gone on fewer dates or chosen less expensive activities because of inflation or the high cost of living, BMO found.
More than four in 10, 44%, said they have changed or adjusted date plans for financial reasons. The number of dates is falling, too. The average American who went on a date reported going out about 12 times in the past year, down from around 14 in 2025, BMO found. Who pays when dates cost this much? Janina Steinmetz | Digitalvision | Getty Images Higher prices are also complicating one of dating's oldest questions: Who pays? BMO found a significant gender split in expectations early in a relationship. Nearly three in four men, 71%, said they expect to pay for everything on a date at first. Among women, 52% said they expect to split the cost relatively evenly, although 38% said they expect the other person to pay for everything.
Jess Carbino, a sociologist who worked for Tinder and Bumble, told CNBC that economic uncertainty can push people toward more traditional expectations. "When we see times of uncertainty, particularly economic uncertainty, we tend to see people rely on more established traditional gender roles in order to buffer and to try to cope with the uncertainty that exists in a given time and moment," Carbino said.
The BriefWire