Single in Your 20s: For the in-between: after someone, before someone, or happily neither. What being single in your twenties is actually like.
Single, and figuring out what that means for you.
Pick up where you left offPost-breakup lonelinessHow do you get over someone you were never officially with?The same way you get over anyone, with one extra step: admitting it was a real loss, even if it never had a label. Grief without a title is still grief, and it usually eases faster once you stop feeding the not-knowing.Up next
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By the numbers
Half
of single U.S. adults are not looking for a relationship or dates right now.
Pew Research Center, 2020. U.S. adults, 2019 survey.
1 in 3
unmarried adults ages 22 to 35 are actively dating.
Wheatley Institute and Institute for Family Studies, 2026. 5,275 unmarried U.S. adults ages 22 to 35.
86%
of unmarried adults ages 22 to 35 expect to marry someday.
Wheatley Institute and Institute for Family Studies, 2026. 5,275 unmarried U.S. adults ages 22 to 35.
53%
of adults ages 18 to 29 have ever used a dating site or app.
Pew Research Center, 2023. 6,034 U.S. adults, July 2022.
Worth reading elsewhere
See allPew Research Center, 2020
A profile of single Americans (opens pewresearch.org)Data on who is single, who is looking, and why most singles under 30 are not in a hurry.
Scientific American
How to Recover from Romantic Heartbreak (opens scientificamerican.com)Research-backed steps for getting through heartbreak, including why replaying the good memories slows recovery.
The Gottman Institute
How to Know When Breaking Up Is the Healthiest Choice (opens gottman.com)Concrete signs that a relationship has stopped repairing itself, to help you decide whether to stay or go.
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